


Memories Made of Dust

by Najti



Series: Life's full of Colors [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable, Alphys knows something, Alternate Universe - Baby Blasters, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Animal Instincts, Baby blasters AU, Beast of Determination, Character Death, Child Death, Childhood Trauma, Colors, Colors mean more than you think, Dad Sans, Determination, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Everyone hate W. D. Gaster, Evil W. D. Gaster, Experiments, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fights, Final Battle, Fire, Fire Magic, Fluff, Gaster Blaster Papyrus, Gaster Blaster Sans, Gaster Blasters, Gen, Hope, Hurt/Comfort, I have no idea how to tag, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Little Skeleton, Lots of Angst, Monster Dust, Nightmares, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pain, Papyrus and Spaghetti, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Child Abuse, Post-Canon, Post-Pacifist Route, Pre-Accident W. D. Gaster, Pre-Canon, Pre-Pacifist Route, Pre-Undertale Pacifist Route, Protective Sans, Sans Makes Puns, Scientist W. D. Gaster, She's adorable, Skeleton Puns, Skeleton family, Skeletons, Sorrow, Soul-Crushing, Souls experiments, Spaghetti, Too much fluff, True Lab (Undertale), Worried Sans, a lot of blaster beasts, amalgamate, baby bones au, blaster beasts, colorfultale, cute marshmallow, cute skeleton, hearthache, lots of fluff, realistic nightmares, rice, soul, soul blasters, soul blasters au, turning to dust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-06-06 08:03:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 40,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6746026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Najti/pseuds/Najti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day Sans forgot his hoodie from Grillby's. He came back for it but when he was getting back home, he found something he had never expected to see.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Snow and Silver

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Trust](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5378657) by [KeetahSpacecat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeetahSpacecat/pseuds/KeetahSpacecat). 



> Firstly, I want to warn you. This is my first work in English. I'm not saying you to ignore the mistakes but to help me correct them.  
> Secondly, as I mentioned in the tags, there will be a lot of emotional and physical tortures here. And one cute little marshmallow which is so adorable I've already made a lot of arts about them!  
> Hope you will like my work :) I'll update it as soon as I can!

Firstly wet. Water drops falling from above

Hard ground, a lot of sharp stones. Hurts.

Then sudden cold, freezing down to the bone.

Burns on hands remind about themselves. Fall

Can’t stop, they’ll find, they’ll catch.

And it will be again the same place. The same hell.

Another step, pain going through the whole body

Still too close. Hide, wherever.

Moves limited by pain and deep snow

Vision blurred, almost none.

In the edge of eyesight.

Light. Is it safety?

Light - fire, warmth.

Fire but maybe not.

Getting closer.

Almost.

Fall.

 

* * *

 

 

It was just an accident that Sans forgot to take his hoodie from Grillby’s. He’d forgotten about it when they had been talking about new menu. It was pretty dark when Sans finally left the bar. He slowly began to head towards his and his brother’s house. Suddenly he tripped. Skeleton cursed quietly while getting up. Then he saw what was lying in the snow.

His eyesockets widened in shock and fear when he realized he was looking on a little, lizard-like skull. The rest of the body was covered with a large amount of snow. Bone was dirty, nearly yellow comparing to the snow around it.

Sans picked the creature with his arms shaking so badly he was afraid he would drop it. Poor thing was unconscious, looked like a skeleton monster, a mix of a dog and a lizard. This sight was too familiar to Sans to just ignore it. As quickly as he could, he ran to the house.

“Papyrus!” he called his brother as soon as he got inside. His younger brother appeared upstairs, going down to the shaking skeleton. He wanted to ask what was going on but he flinched when he saw a little creature Sans was holding.

“We need Grillby. Now. And a doctor” said shorter skeleton. Papyrus just gave him a nod and went to the kitchen where he had left his cell phone. In the same time Sans sat down on a sofa and put a little finding on his knees. It was still breathing but its breaths were short and weak like it couldn’t catch enough air. Or it was painful for it.

Sans knew this monster was like his family, not just a random monster child. He took a quick look on its paw and saw what he expected to see there. A little, metal plate attached to her bone, just under the shoulder. He let out a sigh and put his hand on creature’s skull. Papyrus and Sans had also once been in the same place and condition as this little one.

He slowly began to pet her and talk, just to make her feel safe even if she couldn’t hear it. She? Yes, he kinda had a feeling that this skeleton’s a female. Papyrus came back and stood in front of Sans.

“THEY’LL BE HERE SOON. IS SHE ALRIGHT?” he asked. He also had that feeling. Sans just shook his head. Creature could had been lying in snow for hours, she was frozen solid, even now she looked like she could turn into dust in any second. Suddenly, little child started shivering. Sans continued to pet her gently.

“Shhhhh, it’s okay…” he whispered. Creature let out a growl so quiet he could hardly hear it. But he understood it anyway. “Hurts” was what she said. “It will stop soon, shhhh…” said Sans in their own, strange, dog-like language. Her shivering stopped and she slowly opened her eyes a little bit. Little lights in her eyesockets were dull, she was looking around but her face said him she can’t see anything. “Shhhhh… Rest, it will end soon..” he tried to calm her. Her eyesockets closed again. She quickly fell asleep.

The door opened and Grillby rushed inside. He looked really worried. Immediately he sat down next to Sans and put his warm hand on one of Sans’ shoulders.

“Doctor can’t come. He’ll try to get here as soon as he can but it will still take him some hours” said Grillby with his warm as a campfire voice. Fire elemental watched child’s short and painful breaths but his eyes turned to Sans when the skeleton stopped petting the creature. Tears began to form in his eyesockets as his little lights disappeared replaced with pitch black. Grillby knew what that meant.

“Calm down, don’t worry, we just have to wait. I’ll make some food and…”

“She won’t make it.”

Grillby flinched. “What?”

“I said she wouldn’t make it.” Sans sighed and showed him his hand he had been petting a skeleton monster. It was covered with a thin layer of dust. Elemental’s eyes widened in shock and fear.

“But… She’s still breathing… “ he finally said while gazing at little creature. He didn’t know its gender but he trusted Sans.

“Turning to dust while being still alive… one of worst kinds of deaths…” Sans looked extremely serious and began to pet the child once more. Not just to give her comfort but also calm himself a bit. Even if he’d never seen her, he felt the bond between them. Skeleton shape-shifting monsters could come from only one place. The Lab. But it’s been given to Alphys, their dear friend. She was a royal scientist now. But it wasn’t she who once more started experiments with life, it couldn’t have been her. It must have been someone else…

His thoughts came back to the house. He felt Papyrus’ and Grillby’s eyes on him. But Sans knew what should be done and he hated this.

“Pap, go back to your room. Now.” Taller skeleton didn’t know what was going on but he listened to his brother and went upstairs. Grillby’s eyes followed him as he shut his bedroom’s door. Then he turned to Sans. Black eyesockets were also staring at the elemental.

“You too… Dad… Go back home” his voice broke while tears were falling from his eyesockets full of darkness. More and more of them landed on child’s skull, then mixed with its dust and fell on the carpet. They looked like a liquid silver, beautiful but saddening.

“What are you gonna do?” asked Grillby with fear.

“You know. And you know I can be ‘deadly’ serious sometimes” Sans nearly whispered while lifting his left hand slightly. A long bone with spiky ending appeared over little creature’s skull, ready to fall. Weak blue flame woke up in his left eyesocket. He clenched his teeth but couldn’t help the tears still falling on her and then on the carpet as silver drops.

“Just… Do what you think is right.” said Grillby because he understood. This child wouldn’t make it till the morning. It would turn to dust within an hour. Doctor’s healing items would help her but they had none. And even Grillby’s food wasn’t enough.

Sans didn’t know when the fire elemental had took his hand off his shoulder. He also didn’t notice him standing up. He only heard the front door being shut. Then there was just silence. And a bone still floating above skeleton creature’s skull.

He should have done this. He should have ended her suffering. He should have put her into a deep sleep she would never wake up from.

But his soul refused.

Bone disappeared as more and more tears began to fall from his eyesockets. He hugged her carefully not to break any of her fragile bones. He heard her breath and shivered. Sounded really terrible.

But he couldn’t do this.

 


	2. A Miracle, Rice and Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something unbelievable happened.

_“Hurts” growled a pile of dust in front of Sans. He fell on his knees shaking in fear and quickly begun grabbing dust to put it back in a shape of a little skeleton monster. But it just kept falling back on the ground._

 

_“Hurts” it growled again. Tears begun to form in his eyesockets as he realized this all was for nothing. He couldn’t help her. Sans just watched as little drops were falling on the ground and mixing with dust. Soon there was a puddle of liquid silver._

 

_“Huuurtsss…” growled the puddle with a low pitched voice. Skeleton felt little boney claws grabbing his soul, taking it away and then ripping it apart into tiny bits._

 

_Then there was only silence. He raised his head and saw two figures in front of him. He and his brother in age they had been when they’d met Grillby. They were so young. When little Papyrus couldn’t walk, young Sans shifted into his canine form and put him on his back._

 

_Then the brothers disappeared, replaced by a lonely little skeleton creature. It was tired, but there was no one to pick her up and calm her. It just kept going through the snow until she collapsed._

 

_Sans could only watch. Then he felt a little hand on his shoulder._

 

* * *

 

He didn’t open his eyes. Even if he wasn’t sleeping anymore, he didn’t want to see his arms covered in dust of the one he couldn’t save. He even felt badly for falling asleep when she’d needed him. He just couldn’t.

 

Something wet touched his face just above his mouth. Than it began to lick it slowly while also tickling Sans a little. He let out a chuckle. Then he finally found the courage to open his eyesockets.

 

A long, almost transparent, pink tongue was wiping his face. Than he saw something impossible.

 

Little creature was still here. Covered with a layer of dust but still breathing and alive.

 

How? How was it even possible? It wasn’t. Sans took a quick look on a clock hanging on a wall. It was almost morning. She should have turned to dust a couple hours ago. A miracle.

 

He realized he was staring at her. She hid her tongue and curled on a sofa next to him.

 

“Hey there, little one. Welcome back among the living” he whispered. She just growled in response. “Hurrr” she said in this strange dog-like language. But Sans understood.

 

“Still hurts? Don’t worry, kiddo, I think I can help.” Sans chuckled and slowly got up from the sofa.

 

She suddenly began to look for him in panic. He was only a few steps from her and she acted like she couldn’t see him. Skeleton came closer and she again focused her eyes on him. He sighed and slowly picked the little creature up. She was strangely fragile and weak, he felt like one sudden move could break her bones like sticks. But child looked calmer with him. And that’s what mattered.

 

He went to the kitchen while holding her and put her on the table. Then he lowered his head so his eyes met hers.

 

“I might disappear now, so wait. Okay, kiddo?” he smiled at her. Little monster slowly nodded. Sans slowly made a few steps towards the cupboards while trying not to lose the eyecontact with her. He was still close but he noticed once again that she looked like she lost him from her eyesight. He saw panic in her eyesockets but she tried to stay calm.

 

“I’m still there, just wait” he said. Her eyes still tried to find him but she didn’t panic anymore. Skeleton could now focus on something else. He began to open cupboards and look for anything quick to cook. He was never good in cooking just like Alphys. He preferred going to Grillby’s, his father’s food was much better than anything he could make himself.

 

Cupboards were full of boxes of noodles and jars with tomato sauce. He’d seen Papyrus trying to cook spaghetti a couple of times so he thought it’s neither quick nor easy.

 

Then his eyes stopped on a box behind the infinite amount of pasta boxes. He grinned and took it out. Then he turned on a stove, filled a pot with water and threw a packet from the box to it. He followed the instructions on the box so he wanted to add some salt but he added some sugar instead. He cursed quietly. He was hoping he didn’t spoil it. He looked at the child still lying on the table. She was lying patiently and waiting for Sans to come back. Skeleton quickly sneaked out of the kitchen to grab his cell phone from the table. Then he wrote a message to his dad. He was certainly still sleeping since it was still dark so he didn’t want to wake him up as child’s life wasn’t in a serious danger now. “‘Morning, dad. Come as soon as you can. Something unbelievable has happened. You just have to see this.” Then he put the phone back on the table and returned to the kitchen. Food wasn’t ready yet so he just sat down on a chair near the table and watched the skeleton monster. He quickly saw some differences between her and her from the previous day.

 

Her eyelights were a little brighter and in a bright shade of pink, almost white. Her bones were also covered in dust in some places. But then came the worse things. Like her left hand. Her fingers were gone, only her thumb stayed on its place. The front fang was missing. Some of her ribs had cracks on them. That was the moment he realized she had no clothing on her. But they didn’t have any clothes in her size.

 

Sans just took off his blue hoodie and covered poor little creature. She peeked from under his hood which covered her whole body. A large grin on his face was an answer to her unspoken question.

 

The pot reminded about itself with a sound of boiling water. Sans checked the food and sat down again. Only a few minutes later he turned off the stove and took the pot. Then he used a fork to get a soaking packet from the hot water. Sans took a plate from the cupboard and food landed on it.

 

A plate with a lot of rice was placed in front of little monster on the table. She crawled a little bit closer carefully but with eyes full of curiosity. She was hungry for sure. She sniffed the air a few times before her pink tongue slipped through the lack of front tooth and slowly licked a pile of white food. Some rice sticked to it so she could eat it. She crawled even closer and took more rice. Sans watched with a smile as his hoodie began to move when she was crawling closer to the food. She didn’t even mind the temperature of rice, she was really hungry. She stopped only for a while to let out a growl of happiness. “Sweet” she said quietly. It looked like she really enjoyed her first meal.

 

Suddenly she flinched and her eyes widened in fear. Sans didn’t know what was going on at first but then he heard a sound of front door opening. Then a few steps and Grillby appeared in kitchen’s door. He was wearing his orange winter jacket and a pair of jeans. He saw the creature on the table and then looked at Sans with shock and relief in his fiery eyes.

 

“But how-” he began with his warm voice sounding like a campfire. Child’s eyes were full of panic as she tried to find out where was the source of voice. Sans put his hand on her head to calm her down. “He’s okay, he isn’t going to hurt you. He’ll help” he whispered to her and stood up. She slowly focused back on food. Sans came closer to Grillby but tried to stay in her sight.

 

“Yep, that’s a living miracle” he said to his father who was still staring at her.

 

“Is she alright?” he asked. Sans’ grin changed into a frown.

 

“She’s seriously injured, can’t see good and some of her fingers are missing. She can’t walk, only crawl short distances.” He looked at poor thing still eating rice. She wasn’t eating too fast which was good, Sans didn’t have to watch her all the time. Grillby looked lost in his thoughts but nodded after hearing more about her current state. Then the fire elemental simply left the kitchen. “I’ll call a doctor and get her something more to eat” he said before he left the house.

 

Sans came back to her and saw that the plate was empty. She curled under the hoodie with only her head visible. “Warm” she growled quietly with a nearly invisible smile. Skeleton was glad she ate everything. It meant that magic in monster food can now start working and healing her. It wouldn’t give her new eyes or fingers but would take her from the edge of turning to dust. Sans slowly picked her up and bundled with his hoodie. She was almost sleeping. He sat with her on the sofa and put her on his knees. Now he had time to think a little about everything.

 

Someone had started experiments with souls again. Someone was creating skeleton monsters again. Someone was killing them again.

 

Someone came back.

 

He didn’t know who or why but rage was filling him when he was afraid thinking about other skeleton monsters who might be suffering in the Lab now.  He prepared some curses but clenched his teeth. Didn’t want her to wake up. She needed rest to recover and heal her wounds.

 

The front door opened and Grillby came inside. He was holding a paper bag in his fiery hand. It was his magic which protected the paper from catching on fire. He didn’t say anything, just shut the door and sat next to Sans. Smell of fries was getting out of the paper bag.

 

“Alphys will be here within an hour” he said and put the bag on the table.

 

“Alphys?” asked Sans. But she’s too busy to visit them…

 

“Yes. Other doctors are busy because of an epidemic in the capital. Only Alphys stayed in her lab to finish her research.” he explained. Sans nodded slightly and began to pet little creature gently. She was sleeping peacefully, maybe for the first time ever.

 

They didn’t notice Papyrus going down the stairs. They saw him when he stood in front of Sans. His eyes were watching her as her body was moving while she was breathing.

 

“WHO IS SHE?” he asked. And nobody answered. They didn’t know her name. She probably didn’t have one. Sans and Papyrus had had numbers before they had escaped. In the Lab they had been known as W.D. 01 S and W.D. 02 P.

 

Sans carefully freed her left arm from the hoodie bundle and showed it to the others. Papyrus just stayed there and stared at her hand without most of her fingers while Sans was examining her number. It was strange. Much smaller than their metal plates. They still had them. Her was also new like it was on her for a short time.

 

“W.D… 23… H.” Sans read. The brothers were the first pair of many… probably their creator had never stopped making those terrible experiments and torturing innocent beings. Grillby’s eyes caught something else.

 

“What’s that…” he asked himself and carefully turned her hand to show her palm.

 

Her whole palm looked like it had been put into a fire. Bone was dark and burnt. Sans unbundled the child and looked at her second palm. It looked exactly the same. Like someone made her to hold fire with her bare hands.

 

“I don’t know who had done this…” Sans whispered as his eyelights disappeared. “But they will pay for it.” he said and a blue flame woke up in his left eyesocket.

 

“Leave that for later. Firstly, let's find her a name. Normal name, not a number.” Grillby put his fiery hand on Sans’ shoulder instantly snapping him out of trance. Shorter skeleton nodded when his eyelights came back.

 

“I HOPE SHE’LL BE ALRIGHT…” Papyrus whispered. Sans’ eyes were shining brighter for a while.

 

“‘W.D. 23 H’… ‘H’... Maybe ‘Hope’?” he asked with a wide grin on his face. The others smiled with him.

 

“So the only thing we have to do now is wait for her to wake up.” said Sans. But Grillby wasn’t as optimistic as his son.

 

“We also have to consider other things. Are you two sure you can take care of her?” he asked the brothers. Sans stared at little creature on his knees while thoughts were rushing through his skull. His father was right. Taking care of a child was hard enough and taking care of a little, traumatized, shape-shifting skeleton monster even harder. Grillby managed somehow to take care of him and his brother but Sans wasn’t sure if they can just take little Hope like a lost puppy. They will be responsible for her like family. His river of dark thoughts was suddenly stopped by his brother.

 

“Nyeh heh heh! I, The Great Papyrus, will take care of her and I, The Great Papyrus, am sure my lazy brother will help me!” he said in his usual confident voice. Grillby looked still worried but Sans’ nod helped him calm a little.

 

“Okay. I’ll find someone to get us necessary things to take care of a child and you will be here when Alphys comes to examine her.” he said and stood up. In the same moment someone knocked.

 

Grillby went to the front door and opened it. He sighed with relief when he saw a short yellow lizard outside. “A-Am I too early?” she asked shyly. Grillby shook his head quickly. “No, Alphys, you’re not. Come in, it’s cold outside.” he invited her.

 

As soon as Alphys entered the house she saw Sans sitting on a sofa and a little skeleton monster on the blue hoodie on his knees. She was next to him in a second and began to stare at sleeping child.

 

“W-Whoa… I didn’t expected her to be so young…”  she whispered. She was wearing her brown jacket and was holding a large black bag in her left hand. Sans slowly picked Hope up with the hoodie and put her on the table. The sound of door shutting told him that Grillby had left. Alphys put her bag on the table next to the child and opened it. It was full of different medical equipment. She took out a magnifying glass and started examining monster’s wounds while Sans told her what had happened since they found her. She looked surprised when she heard about her turning to dust.

 

Then Sans noticed Hope’s eyesockets slowly opening. Her eyelights were bright in a light shade of pink. Firstly she looked around with sleepy eyes but then she saw Alphys. Panic woke in her eyes as she started crawling away from the doctor. She was quickly getting closer to the edge of the table. Before she could fall, blue magic surrounded her and she started to slowly float to Sans. He stood next to Alphys. As soon as he caught her, she tried to hide her head under his arm.

 

“It’s okay, it’s okay, she ain’t gonna hurt you…” he whispered and started petting her like a frightened dog. “Who?” she whispered with fear which sounded to Alphys like a dog’s cry.

 

“She’s Alphys, she wants to help you so you won’t feel pain anymore” he said trying to cheer her. He sat on the sofa and the doc sat next to them. Sans slowly put little creature on his knees. Alphys waved to her friendly. “So she is like you and Papyrus, right? Can she… I don’t know… transform into her more humanoid form?” asked scientist.

 

Sans looked at Hope and saw fear in her eyes. “It’s okay, she just want you to shift.” he said and put her next to him on the sofa. “Like…” he smoothly shifted into a bony dog-lizard creature still wearing his clothes. Then he shifted back. “...That.”

 

She looked happy that he didn’t only understand their strange language but could transform into a creature as well. Then she slowly begun to transform. Her transformation was as smooth as Sans’ but longer. He covered her with his hoodie.

 

On his knees was sitting not a boney creature but a little skeleton child with nothing more than a hoodie covering her. Her head was round like Sans’ but her bones were in an unhealthy shade of yellow. Her left hand still lacked fingers but now the burns were more visible. She looked around with curiosity but also a little fear. Little child looked like it was maybe three or four years old. But it was hard to tell since she was a skeleton.

 

Alphys started examining her again but this time she also asked some questions. Hope could hardly answer them like she was more used to talking while in her canine form. But tried as much as she could.

 

“Who did this to you?” Alphys asked while showing her many cracks on her ribs.

 

“White. Hurts. Coat. Holes. Cold.” she whispered. Alphys nodded like she understood everything.

 

“Do you remember anything from yesterday?”

 

Hope looked a little calmer but then she started shivering. “Cold. Painful. Light. Darkness. Warmth. Nice. Hurts. Warmer. Water. Warmer… Then… Flash. Light. Green. Sleep.” she said. Alphys looked surprised. “So you saw a flash of green light?” she asked. Hope answered her with a nod. “Where was it coming from?” This time Hope didn’t say anything. She just lifted her left hand and put it in front of Sans’ like she was trying to point at his left eyesocket but couldn’t due to a lack of fingers. Alphys just nodded. Then she started looking for something in her bag. She took out a jar with blue gel and a bottle full of purple liquid. She put it on the table and added a little box.

 

“This gel is to heal her bones and make them stronger. This purple water should be added to the food to strengthen the soul and help her heal faster. In this box there are some bandages and a tube of salve for her burns. Just apply it on burns in the morning, cover in bandages and don’t let her take them off till the evening.” she stopped for a while to take a breath. “Now I need to talk to you, Sans, about the details of her current state.” she ended. He put Hope next to him and covered her with his hoodie. He also notice that Papyrus had left the room while Alphys had been examining the child.

 

“Okay, tell me. And no, I won’t just take her somewhere she won’t hear us.” he told her. Alphys just sighed.

 

“Okay. So to begin with… her eyes. They look like they had been blinded temporarily and one of them is near recovering itself while the other is starting. It was some kind of magic I can’t call by name. Then, her hands. Those burns aren’t natural. They are so bad it must have been strong magic fire. She probably was made to hold it. Her fingers won’t recover. Cracks on her ribs should heal after applying the gel. It will take them some days of course. And the last one… this mysterious flash of green light. I may know what it is.” she said and stopped again for another breath. She always tried to tell everything all at once. “Sans, I think that you might have some kind of healing magic. You might have used it instinctively when you hugged her but you don’t remember this happening. That’s why she survived turning to dust. But it’s still unbelievable.”

 

Sans also couldn’t believe it. He and healing magic? Definitely not. His magic was too destructive, he could only change soul’s gravity or summon some bones. In his other form he could also shoot a powerful beam. Every single of those abilities could cause serious damage. He was created for fighting, not for healing. Alphys just packed her tools and went to the door.

 

“I hope I’ve helped her” she said with a pleasant smile. Hope also smiled to her and lifted her hand slightly to wave to her but she hid it when she realized her palm was visible. Alphys said goodbye and left the house.

 

Sans carefully picked her up. Little child looked at him. He just grinned in answer. “I think I should introduce myself” he said. “My name’s Sans and my brother’s Papyrus. Did someone give you a name in the lab?” he whispered. She flinched when she heard the name of the place she came from. She just showed her metal plate in an answer. Sans nodded slowly in understanding. “So what do you think about me giving you a proper name?” She looked at him even more surprised then before. “Is it okay if we call you Hope from now?” he asked with a smile on his face. Hope answered him with the same happy grin.

 

“So that’s settled” he chuckled a little and stood up with her in his arms. He started heading to the bathroom. It was a small room with a bath, a sink and a mirror.

 

He turned on the water and the bath started filling with it. Hope tightened her grip on his arm. She was scared of the water. But she looked at it more curiously when Sans started pouring a white liquid into the water. A lot of colorful bubbles begun to cover the surface as soon as the liquid touched it.

 

She began to sniff the air. The smell of flowers was spreading very fast. Sans watched the reaction of the child when he was slowly putting her into the water. It was nicely warm but she hissed when warm water touched her wounds. Sans talked to her with calming voice as he cleaned her bones from her own dust. She shifted into her canine form when he finished. Sans chuckled and splashed some water on her. She yipped and covered her eyes but when she realised the water didn’t hurt her, she softly hit the surface with her right hand. She watched curiously the rings of water and smiled. She hesitantly splashed the water on Sans and looked at him like she wasn’t sure if it was right. He begun to laugh leaving the child confused. Than he splashed warm water at her again. She let out a sound which was probably her own try to laugh.

 

They played with water some more time before Sans took her out of the water to dry her. Then he heard the front door opening. “We’re here!” he informed the newcomer about their location. Shortly after that he saw Grillby in bathroom’s door. He was holding a small box. Without a word he gave it to Sans. Skeleton slowly put Hope on the floor with the box and opened it. His eyes became brighter for a while.

 

Inside the box were lying some clothes in child’s size. On the top was lying a bright violet T-shirt in a perfect size for Hope. He took it out of the box to look what was under it. He found a pair of blue trousers, a pair of red trainers and a pink winter jacket with a lot of fluff which looked like a hood. It was a little too big for her.

 

Soon she was sitting on the floor in the T-shirt and trousers. Sans put a jacket on her and chuckled. “You look like a cute little marshmallow” he smiled to her and slowly picked her up. She looked much better than before. She wasn’t a frightened shivering animal anymore but a smiling skeleton child… In a form of blaster beast.

 

“The dogs are upstairs now. Let’s go to the kitchen and let her eat something” said Grillby. Sans nodded and they went to the room Grillby had mentioned. Then the fire elemental warmed up the fries from before and put them on the plate. Then he sat on the chair next to Sans. He watched him feeding Hope sitting on his knees.

 

Grillby saw something familiar in the look Sans gave to Hope. It was a look father’s giving to his child. Skeleton knew the child for only a day but he was already attached to her. Grillby watched him until the fries were gone and Hope curled on his knees.

 

“I’ll go and check if the dogs are gone now.” he whispered and stood up ready to leave the room. But before he left the kitchen he turned to the pair once more. “Thank you, dad” Sans murmured with a smile to Grillby. Elemental answered with a nod and went upstairs.

 

Then Sans reminded himself about the gel and liquid from Alphys. He should at least apply the gel on her bones.

 

He gently picked her up and went to the living room. The jar with blue gel was still on the table. Sans sat down on the couch with almost sleeping Hope in his arms and opened the jar. She opened her eye with curiosity but without fear. She trusted him more than anyone. He slowly started putting the gel on her bones. He shivered a little when the cold gel touched her wounds.

 

In the corner of his eye, Sans saw Dogamy, Dogaressa and Lesser Dog going down the stairs. They quietly left the house. Grillby was waiting at the top of the stairs. Sans didn’t want to hurry, he carefully finished spreading the gel on her bones. Then he picked her up and went upstairs where Grillby led them to Sans’ room.

 

Dogs prepared some things for a child just as they did many years ago when Grillby asked them for. There was a purple bed for a child with wooden bars so a child wouldn’t fall and a blue dog bed much bigger than Hope was, maybe even able to fit Sans inside. Some dog toys were scattered on the floor. Sans also noticed some boxes on the floor next to his dresser. Probably more clothes. The rest of the room remained unchanged.

 

Sans’ happiness quickly died out when he felt a tight grip on his arm. He looked down and saw Hope’s frightened eyes. She looked scared to death. He hugged her. “What’s so scary?” he murmured. Grillby watched his moves. “Cage.” answered little shivering skeleton. The bed with wooden bars looked like a cage for her. He petted her head gently. “I won’t put you in the cage” he said with a smile. He walked up to the dog bed and carefully put her on a pillow. She looked at him surprised. He petted her again with a pleasant smile, said “goodnight” and went to Grillby. At first she looked confused and Sans knew why.

 

No one had ever said “goodnight” to her. She had never had her own bed. She hadn’t had a bed at all. She had been created in a lab by the same person who had created Sans and Papyrus. She had never received any kindness in the lab, only pain.

 

Sans turned to the elemental with a smile. “Thanks a lot” he said quietly not to interrupt Hope as she was trying to fall asleep. Grillby just nodded in response. Then he lifted his hand and tapped his wrist like he was tapping a watch. Then he made a motion similar to waving and left the room.

  
So it was that late already? Suddenly Sans felt all the events of this day falling on him. He felt so tired he just turned off the light and went straight to bed. He fell on a mattress and quickly fell asleep while staring at the little skeleton monster in a dog bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know about any mistakes!
> 
> And also all arts about this work will be now tagged #hopetheskeleton on my DeviantArt!  
> First art: http://najti.deviantart.com/art/Two-Blasters-606942633


	3. Fire Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope had a nightmare about the Doctor.

_“Subject 23, come here at an instant!_

 

_She couldn’t understand the exact meaning of those word but she knew one thing. She was in serious trouble. But what was she supposed to do? They wanted to do something to her, something they called “examination” and the only thing she knew about it was that it was really painful. White Coat always had many sharp tools with him during the “examination”._

 

_She slowly crawled from under the table where she had hidden when she saw the bonesaw. She saw a tall person in front of her. They were wearing a long white coat. There were cracks on their face from their right eye to the top of the skull and from their left eye to the corner of their mouth. The Doctor looked really angry._

 

_She considered hiding back under the table but before she could do anything she felt her body being pulled to him. Her bones were rattling as she was shivering with fear. She yipped when she stopped right in front of the Doctor. He looked right into her eyes._

 

_“Subject 23, show me your magic and I’ll forget about this incident.” he said calmly. His words scared her even more. He wanted her to do something impossible. He wanted her to form her magic in a shape of fire and hold it in her arms. He often wanted her to do that._

 

_“Subject 23, I’m waiting.” he said with anger._

 

_She had no choice._

 

_She just sat on the floor and lifted her paws. She didn’t have to shift to try. She was supposed to know how to use her magic in both forms._

 

_Even if she couldn’t use it in any of them._

 

_She looked at her palms and focused on them. She imagined a blaze on them. A wild fireball which she could use to burn Doctor and this whole place to ashes._

 

_Nothing happened._

 

_“Subject 23, do you want me to show you how it should be done?” he asked her with hidden anger in his voice. She shook her head. He kneeled down in front of her and showed his left hand. It had a large hole inside. He snapped his fingers and a large red blaze woke up in the hole. She looked at it with fear but also a little bit of excitement. Another snap of his fingers and the fire was gone._

 

_“Subject 23, show me your magic.” He said firmly._

 

_She focused again. She knew it was impossible to her to do this but she had to try. Giving up would meet with much worse punishment._

 

_Her left eye became a little brighter as a little pink blaze woke up in her left eyesocket. She tried harder than ever. Maybe if she showed him her magic, he would let her go? Maybe it was his purpose?_

 

_She imagined a fireball on her palm once more. She focused on it with all her will. Fire. Warmth. Anger. Destruction. She was angry at the Doctor. Why was he always so bad to her? She didn’t understand this!_

 

_She clenched her teeth as pink fire began to lick the left side of her face. It was hot, too hot, painfully hot. It hurt her, her whole body was telling her she should stop. But she couldn’t. It was too late._

 

_Suddenly large pink flames appeared on her palms. Doctor looked pleased._

 

_She began to scream when she felt her own magic fire burning her bone. She tried to stop it but she was out of control. She began to hit the floor with her paws to put the fire off. It was all for nothing._

 

_“Subject 23, good job. Let’s start an ‘examination’ now.” she could hardly hear Doctor’s voice through her own cries. She curled on the floor just wanting it all to stop. She just wanted him to test one of those strange liquids he said are lethal to monsters on her. She just wanted the pain to stop._

 

_She just wanted to die._

 

* * *

 

Sans suddenly woke up. At first he didn’t know why but then he heard it. A quiet whine of a beaten puppy. He got up and saw a dim light coming from the dog bed.

 

He lit up his own left eye with a blue fire and went to the dog bed. He smoothly shifted into his canine form and poked the child. She was still sleeping, tears falling from her closed eyes. The light was coming from her left eyesocket. A tiny pink flame was escaping from it.

 

He did the only thing he came up with. He entered the dog bed and curled around her. She was so tiny, weak and fragile. He pulled her closer to him and closed her in a tight embrace. Than he formed a blue transparent tongue and wiped the tears from her face. She instantly woke up looking at him with fear.

 

He growled some calming words to her like “It was a bad dream” or “You’re safe now”. She just buried herself in his hug and slowly began to calm down. She felt the warmth of the larger skeleton. He wasn’t painfully hot, just pleasantly warm.

  
She fell asleep once more with no nightmares this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor little kid...


	4. Spaghetti, Sugar and Bad Habits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope ate, Sans was teaching her bad habits. Than they went on a walk...

Sans felt something patting him. It quickly became annoying because he couldn’t sleep with someone constantly touching him like that. He opened his eyes ready to scare away the annoying one. But then he saw Hope shut in his hug and he remained quiet. She was still sleeping. He just looked at the one who woke him up with anger in his eyes.

 

Papyrus was standing in front of him in his canine form. He was taller than Sans but not too much.  He sat down on the floor and was waiting for Sans to get up. Shorter skeleton didn’t even want to think about it.

 

“What? She’s sleeping.” he growled quietly. Papyrus just nodded and pulled something to him. It was a box from Alphys, the one with the salve and bandages. “I’ll make breakfast” he said and left the room. Sans sighed and slowly got up. Hope didn’t even notice it, she was fast asleep. It hurt him to do this but he had to wake her up.

 

He slowly began to gently shake her until she slowly opened her eyes. At first she looked scared but as soon as she saw the other skeleton’s face she calmed down. Sans smiled and shifted into his normal form.

 

“Sorry for bothering ya’. I’ll just apply the salve and get us some food.” he said with a wide grin. She smiled back and stood up. Her legs were shaking like it was hard for her to stand. Sans just picked her up. He had nothing against carrying her everywhere. He took the box and sat down on his bed. He asked her to show him her paws. She looked unsure but she slowly lifted them and showed him his burnt palms. They looked terrible. He didn't even know what kind of fire could deal this kind of damage. Those burns looked much worse than the ones caused by normal fire.

 

He took the salve out of the box. It was a little jar filled with yellow salve. Sans opened it and sniffed it a little. It smelled like butter. He took some salve on the finger and slowly began to spread it on her burns. It didn’t look like it caused her any pain. More to say she looked glad. In the end she wanted to lick the salve off but Sans stopped her and put the bandages on her paws. She looked not pleased with this fact but she didn’t complain.

 

“You’ll be able to run again soon” he chuckled and left the room with her in his arms. They went down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Papyrus had already made some spaghetti. It still looked unedible. Sans put Hope on a chair and went to open the cupboard. “Mornin’, bro” he said. He quickly found a small packed he was looking for. “MORNING. IS SHE OKAY?” asked Papyrus while pointing at her. Even if she was sitting on a chair and could barely reach the edge of the table she tried to sniff the spaghetti. Sans chuckled. “She’s much better now.” he said with some kind of relief in his voice. Papyrus remained silent for a while. He watched Sans cursing quietly as he realised there’s no milk left in the fridge. “I’ll be back soon, need something from the store” he said and snapped his fingers. In the next second he was gone. Sans and his shortcuts…

 

Papyrus was left in the kitchen with Hope. He didn’t know what to do, spaghetti was ready and he had never looked after a kid before. He just approached her with a smile on his face. He had much less instinct than his brother. “I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM SURE THIS SPAGHETTI WILL BE THE BEST THING YOU’VE EVER EATEN!” he said firmly. Hope looked at him surprised and turned to spaghetti. She could barely see it but some noodles were hanging from the edge of the table. She opened her jaw and caught them with her tongue. She tried to eat them but the rest of spaghetti with the plate went with them. She still tried pulling them to her.

 

A plate with food almost fell on her. When she saw it she covered her eyes with her bandaged paws. She was waiting for a plate falling on her or on the floor and for punishment.

 

Nothing happened.

 

She slowly uncovered her eye and saw a lot of spaghetti floating in a cloud of blue magic above her. Sans was standing next to her with a grin on his face. His left arm was covered in blue flames and the other one was holding a carton of milk.

 

“I can’t leave ya’ for a second, can I?” he sighed and put the spaghetti with the plate back on the table. Than he put the carton next to the stove. He told Hope to wait a little and he took a pot out of a cupboard. He started enjoying cooking simple things. Things as simple as rice and hot chocolate from a packet. He poured the milk into the pot and threw the chocolate powder with it. Than he added the liquid from Alphys, the purple one. Milk with chocolate became violet for a while but after a second it was normal again.

 

While Sans was cooking, Papyrus carefully picked Hope up and put her on the table next to the plate full of spaghetti. She slowly got closer to the food and licked it with her tongue. Than she took some noodles into her mouth. Than a meatball. She didn’t complain but she also didn’t look like she loved the taste of Papyrus’ spaghetti. No one actually did.

 

“WHAT’S WRONG?” he asked when he saw her face. “Sweet. Please?” she asked shyly. Papyrus didn’t look offended at all, he took a packet of sugar from the cupboard and added some. Maybe even too much. Spaghetti was covered in a thick layer of sugar and surely didn’t look tasty. But Hope started eating again.

 

When Sans turned around with a cup of hot chocolate in his hand he had nearly dropped it. The half of the spaghetti from the plate was gone. Sans knew how his brother’s food tasted so he was shocked how she was able to eat it. But she didn’t look like she was made to eat it. She looked like she liked the taste of it!

 

Sans put the cup on the table and sat down on the chair. He watched with shock and fear as the child was eating spaghetti made by his brother. Papyrus looked happy but Sans started to worry about little Hope’s health. No one had eaten so much Papyrus’ spaghetti before.

 

She finished eating like it was normal. She saw Sans’ shocked look and turned to him. She looked really surprised. “WAS IT GOOD?” asked Papyrus with hope. She looked at him, surprised even more and slowly nodded. Sans started to consider calling Alphys again.

 

But he didn’t say anything and just pulled the cup with hot chocolate to her while Papyrus took the empty plate. But before she began to drink, the cup just moved away covered in blue magic. Hope looked at Sans not understanding why he did this. He chuckled.

 

“No more eating or drinking in beast form. Only bipedal form allowed.” he said with a smile. She should learn living in her normal form because now she was more an animal than a monster. She mostly followed her instinct and shifted into her humanoid form only if she had to. She could barely talk and knew only a few words. In this moment Sans realised how much work they had to do.

 

She nodded with resignation and let him to put her back on the chair. She smoothly but slowly shifted into a small skeleton child. Sans put the cup in front of her and showed how to hold it. Wrong. She was so weak she couldn’t even hold a cup of hot chocolate!

 

He sighed and helped her hold it while she was drinking. Papyrus left the house to recalibrate his puzzles in case a human came and just because he loved them. Hope finished her chocolate and she was already looking much better. It looked like she liked anything that was sweet and warm.

 

Sans couldn’t resist and asked her a question. “How have you managed to eat my brother’s spaghetti? I tried it once and it tastes awful.” She remained quiet for a minute like she was thinking about words she should use. “No taste. Only sweet.” she said. Sans thought he should tell Alphys about it next time.

 

He took the child from the chair and put her on the floor. Then he stepped back a little. He smiled her. “Let’s see how’s your healing going” Sans said and kneeled down.

 

Suddenly Hope’s eyes filled with fear as she hid behind one of chair’s legs. She shut them tightly, her bones were rattling. Sans watched her for a few seconds just to realise she was scared of him. He slowly moved closer to her. The child looked terrified. But the only thing he’d done was kneeling down!

 

He slowly put his arm around her and pulled her closer. She struggled like she tried to escape but stopped when he hugged her. He held her until she calmed down. Then he heard a quiet voice. “No… magic…?” she asked him. He chuckled. “Of course no magic, kiddo. Only checking how are your bones healing.” But she still looked scared. He came up with something. “Ya know, I have a friend which is a ghost. He’s name’s Napstablook. Hard to spell isn’t it?” She looked surprised. “He’s almost always sad. So once I had told him to use an elevator. Ya know, to  _ lift _ his  _ spirits _ .” A smile grew up on her face. “Actually he had taken my advice. More surprisingly, it had worked!” Then he just sat there while listening to her laughter. She was laughing like a normal child and not like someone who went through hell. It looked like his puns made her forget about her painful past for a while. He waited patiently until she stopped laughing. “Better?” She nodded in response. Sans gave her a cheerful smile and moved away from her. Than he opened his arms waiting for her.

 

She still looked unsure but made a step towards him. Than another one. She lacked experience in walking in her bipedal form and Sans wanted to fix this. One step more… she was slowly getting closer. Suddenly she tripped on her own foot.

 

She landed safely in his arms. “That wasn’t so bad for the first time. Wanna try again?” He asked. She nodded with a smile. “And do you know what’s mole’s favourite food?” She shook her head. “Guaca- _mole_.” She burst out with laughter. Sans loved the sound of laughter and he loved the sound of child’s laughter even more.

 

They started the walking lessons again. Every time Sans said her a pun and listened to her laughter.

 

“Which kind of an insect lives in Hotlands? A Fire-fly.”

 

“Where do the cows came from? From the Moon.”

 

“How do we call a broken pencil? It doesn’t matter, it’s pointless!”

 

In the end she could walk much better but was exhausted from all those attempts. Sans made more hot chocolate with the purple liquid from Alphys and sat down with her on the sofa. He still had to hold the cup while she was drinking but he noticed she was looking much better than before. Her eyes were full of life and her voice and breath weren’t so weak. It was amazing how fast she was regenerating with a little help of Alphys’ medicine.

 

“Funny?” she asked him. He chuckled. “Of course, kiddo. Knock knock.” He said. But she looked at him waiting for the rest of the pun. “When I say ‘knock knock’ you say ‘who's there’, okay?” She nodded. “Let’s start again. Knock knock.” She looked at him unsurely. “Who there?” “Fly.” “Fly… Who?” Then he stroke. “ _Fly_ are you laughing?” he said and suddenly started tickling her. She was laughing so hard her face turned pink. She tried to escape but he didn’t let her. He was also laughing with her.

 

When Papyrus came back home around an hour later he found them sitting on the sofa with cups of hot chocolate. As soon as Sans noticed his brother, he waved to him. “Could you repeat the last one, please?” he asked her. She nodded with a smile and turned to Papyrus.

 

“What lion favourite flowers?”

 

Sans looked at Papyrus with a wide grin. Taller skeleton sighed.

 

“I don’t know. What are lion’s favourite flowers?” Sans asked when he realised his brother isn’t going to continue the joke.

 

“Dande-lions.” She answered with a giggle. Papyrus looked frustrated.

 

“SANS! YOU’RE TEACHING HER BAD HABITS!” he shouted at his brother. Hope didn’t understood what was going on and looked at Sans while looking for an answer. He petted her gently causing another burst of laughter.

 

“Oh, come on, that was a good one. And her first one too!” Sans looked really proud of her. Papyrus sighed and went to the kitchen to cook spaghetti. Then Sans realised how hungry he was. Then he came up with something.

 

“Papyrus, don’t bother cooking for us today. We’ll go to Grillby’s.” he said and stood up while holding Hope in his arms. He went upstairs for her jacket and trainers and put them on her. He also put on his hoodie. Then they went outside.

 

He put her on the ground, snow wasn’t so deep. She looked at it with curiosity. Sans took her left hand and slowly headed towards the bar. It was a really strange feeling, holding a hand without most of the fingers. A saddening feeling but also something he should get used to. She couldn’t get her fingers back.

 

In the corner od his eye he saw her looking around with curiosity. A large smile grew on her face. She pointed the Librabry with her hand. “What that?” she asked. “It’s our library. A place where monsters come to read and learn in peace and silence.” He explained. Than she pointed the tree in the center of Snowdin. It had many lights and colorful paper chains on it. But before Sans could say anything a yellow lizard without arms came into sight. It quickly approached them causing Hope to hide behind Sans.

 

“Who’s that, yo? Is that a kid, yo? Why isn’t she wearing a striped shirt, yo? Can I play with her, yo? What’s up with her hands, yo?” He said all at once. Sans felt Hope was shivering. “Slow down, kiddo. Her name’s Hope. And yes, she’s a kid” he began but Monster kid was already behind him sniffing Hope. “She smells weird, yo. Like sweets and medicine, yo.” he said. Suddenly Hope just shifted into her canine form. This transformation was fast and unexpected causing Monster kid to flinch. She standed in a defending pose but in fact she was shaking with fear. “Away” she growled. “What was that, yo? That was cool, yo! Do this again, yo! Please, yo!” he begged her. She looked shocked. “He’s asking you to shift.” said Sans calmly. Hope slowly shifted back into her bipedal form and hid behind Sans again. “That was awesome, yo! Like Undyne, yo! But Undyne’s the coolest, yo! Do you want to play with me, yo?” he was talking so fast even Sans could barely understand him. “Actually, we are heading to Grillby’s now so maybe later” Sans said, took Hope’s arm and slowly headed towards the bar. Soon they went inside.

 

There was always warm and nice here. Most customers came her at night so now the bar was almost empty. Only Dogaressa and Dogamy were having a date in the corner and Grillby was cleaning the glasses. Sans went to the stools and sat down in front of Grillby while putting Hope on his knees. She still looked a little scared but she knew that she was safe with Sans. She even gave a smile to the elemental. Little child couldn’t see it but he was smiling too.

 

“Hey, dad, double order of fries, please.” said Sans also happier than usual. Grillby nodded and went to the kitchen for food. As soon as he left Hope gave Sans a look full od disunderstanding. “‘Da’ who?” she asked. Sans flinched for a second. Oh, right. She hadn’t have a family in the lab. Maybe some other subjects as brothers and sisters but no parents. Doctor wasn’t a father. They couldn’t even call him a monster.

 

Sans chuckled and petted her causing her to giggle. “Dad is a person who loves you, takes care of you and helps you when you need him.” he explained. “Grillby, that fiery monster, is my father by will. Monsters like me and you don’t have a family by blood. Actually, we don’t even have blood.” She giggled again but then she became quiet like she was thinking about his words. Grillby came back and put two plates full of fries in front of them. “Bone appetite” Sans chuckled and pulled her plate closer so she could eat without his help. But firstly…

 

Her healthy hand was half a way to the plate when she saw Sans pouring a whole bottle of ketchup on his plate. She watched red liquid slowly covering his fries then she looked at him with an unspoken question in her eyes. He chuckled. “I’ve noticed you like everything with sugar and I like everything with ketchup” he explained it this was. It seemed like she understood. She began to eat but stopped after a while. She looked into elemental’s eyes.

 

“Sweet. Please?” she asked. At first he looked like he had lost in his mind and didn’t hear her but then he just took a bowl full of sugar from under the bar. He sprinkled some sugar on her fries. She smiled in response and began to eat again. “Fries taste terrible with sugar. How is it possible that you like their taste?” he asked. Sans looked like he remembered something. “This morning she even ate Papyrus’ spaghetti when he threw a lot of sugar on the top.” She looked like she couldn’t understand their astonishment. “No taste. Sweet.” she answered without stopping.

 

Grillby looked seriously worried. “Maybe Alphys should come for another examination soon…” he said but flinched before he could say anything else. Hope stopped eating and curled on Sans’ knees. Her bones were rattling as she was shivering with fear. Sans wrapped his hands around her. He and his father looked really surprised. “What’s up?” asked skeleton quietly. He heard her quiet cry. “No. Exa.. Exe… Nation…” she whispered and lifted her sight. Her eyes met his and he saw just pure fear in her white eyelights. “No examination” Sans promised. Examinations, tasting, operation… They should avoid using words somehow connected to the lab. He still was surprised by her reaction in the kitchen.

 

They finished their fries in silence. Than Sans put her on the ground and took her hand. She was still shivering a little. Maybe he was too fast, maybe he shouldn’t show her Snowdin until she wasn’t fully healed. Anyway he hurried a little. They just said ‘bye’ to Grillby and went outside. They were welcomed with a snowstorm. “Keep close” said Sans causing her to move a little closer.

  
Slowly they headed to the brothers’ house. And now also Hope’s one. She closed her eyes to keep snow away from her eyesockets. “Actually, I see  _ snow _ problem.” Sans chuckled. Soon they both were in the house. He took her jacket and his hoodie off and hang them on a heater to dry. Than he sat down on the couch with her on his knees. She curled on his knees like she was in her canine form and closed her eyes. She looked just adorable. Sans began to pet her like a puppy. Then he slowly stood up and carried her to his room. The bed with wooden bars was still here. He was too lazy to take it out in that moment. He put her in the dog bed and took her bandages off. Burns were still as bad as before. Sans sighed and lied down on his bed. He’ll tell Alphys about it earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the pun with dandelions ;)


	5. Fire of Hatred

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope again had a nightmare about her past and the Lab.

_ “Subjects 23 and 24 are ready” said a monster in a white coat to the Doctor. Two small cages were standing on the floor. She was sitting in one of them. The other one was taken by her brother. He was a little taller but more importantly he was the stronger one. _

 

_ “Let’s begin the selection” Doctor said. Suddenly a white transparent wall grew in front of him keeping him and his assistant away from the skeletons. In the aame moment the cages disappeared. _

 

_ She quickly shifted into her canine form but he was faster. He was standing in the same place but his hands were covered in white fire. He didn’t look like it was painful to him. He formed a fireball out of his magic and looked at the Doctor. He nodded in response. _

 

_ “ _ **_Kill”_ ** _ he said. _

 

_ Her brother threw a white fireball at her. She could barely avoid it. When it hit a wall it shattered into hundreds of glass shards. He threw another one. Then two more. She tried to dodge but the last one hit her directly into her face. _

 

_ She screamed as she felt her eyesockets full of glass shards. They were stabbing her like knives and didn’t want to stop. She was crying while struggling on the floor, she tried to rip her eyes away with her claws but she had none so it was pointless. _

 

_ “Kill.” Doctor repeated. _

 

_ She opened her jaws. She was desperate, even if she  _ wanted  _ to die, she  _ didn’t want  _ to die. She felt hot liquid gathering in her mouth. She had no control and she couldn’t see anything so she just shoot. A large pink beam escaped her mouth. _

 

_ Then it was over. Glass shards from her eyesockets were gone. _

 

_ She opened them curiously and looked around. Her brother was lying on the floor with burns on his head and some ribs. He looked uncouncious. An assistant came to take them. He took her back to her cage in the other room but her brother was taken away. She heard the assistants talking about him being hurt only a little. The other time she heard he would come back soon. _

 

_ She never saw him again. _

 

* * *

 

She suddenly opened her eyes and looked around. Nothing. No cages, no glass, no fire. Only dark room. She slowly got out of the dog bed and went to Sans’ bed. She began to tap him with her healthy hand.

 

Slowly he woke up and looked at her with sleepy eyes. She didn’t need to tell him anything. He just picked her up and placed next to him. She burried herself under his arms.

  
“Da” she whispered. He felt his soul beating faster for a while before he fell asleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's so adorable...
> 
> Thanks for all those kudos <3  
> It makes me more determined to finish this work!


	6. Some sugar again and snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans woke up. But someone was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please, don't kill me

Sans woke up with a strange feeling. Like a lack of something. He slowly opened his eyes to look at Hope.

 

But she was gone and replaced with a pile of shiny dust.

 

Suddenly he got out of the bed with eyelights full of fear. How?! Why?! She had been okay, she hadn’t been dying, so why?! Tears were forming in his eyes. He had already attached to her, why did she have to  _ die _ ? It didn’t make any sense. He felt pain in his soul like it was being torn apart. 

 

And he was the one who found it out. He was supposed to tell Papyrus and Grillby about Hope’s death. He slowly left his room while trying not to look at the pile on his bed. But he still didn’t understand this.

 

He went down the stairs but then he heard Papyrus’ voice coming from the kitchen. He was here, cooking like always. Maybe even prepared some spaghetti for her.

 

Sans felt more tears on his cheekbones. He didn’t want to say this to his brother, he didn’t want him to look at the one who failed to save her. But he had to. He entered the kitchen.

 

The first thing he saw was Papyrus cooking spaghetti. And the second was Hope sitting on the edge of a chair, smiling broadly.

 

Sans stared at her with shock and disunderstanding. Her dust was upstairs. How is it possible?! Papyrus noticed his brother and smiled as he saw Sans’ eyes full of tears. “Nyeh heh heh! I, The Great Papyrus, also know some tricks!” he chuckled. Than he pointed at an almost empty packet on the table. Sugar.

 

It was all a joke. Hope was alive, dust upstairs was actually sugar and Sans just overreacted. But he couldn’t help more tears beginning to fall from his eyesockets.  Hope saw his face and frowned. Her smile disappeared. She got on the floor and went to Sans with sadness in her eyes. She also was close to crying.

 

“Papru said funny... Not funny...?” she asked carefully. Than she found herself shut in a tight embrace. “Not funny. Not funny at all.” Sans whispered while hugging her. Even Papyrus realized this joke wasn’t as good as he thought.

 

Sans was still crying. But mostly with joy and relief. Hope was surprised but didn’t say anything. After a few minutes he finally released her from the hug.  He petted her gently while wiping his own face with his brother’s scarf. Papyrus looked frustrated but kept quiet. He put spaghetti on the plate and placed it on the table. Than he sprinkled it with the rest of sugar from the bag.

 

“No more jokes like that. I was really worried” Sans said and helped Hope in her attempts to get on a chair. In her bipedal form she was able to reach the spaghetti. Sans showed her how to use a fork and a spoon to eat the noodles. She got it really quick. But still the biggest mystery to Sans was how she was even able not to throw up after eating. Papyrus was getting better in cooking but his food was still unedible. But she ate it with a smile. Like she couldn’t feel the actual taste.

 

_ “No taste. Only sugar.” _

 

Everything became clear. She felt only sweet taste of sugar. How could he not understand this? He sighed and started making some hot chocolate. Like the previous day he added some medicine from Alphys this time. When milk with chocolate powder was boiling Sans sat down next to Hope. She was slowly coiling noodles around the fork. He smiled at her when she was eating. He didn’t know what he would do without her. He couldn’t see life without his little marshmallow. He chuckled to his thoughts as he imagined Hope in her fluffy jacket. She looked at him with surprise. She had sauce spread on her face. Sans chuckled one more time.

 

“Someone needs a bath” he said with a smile. “Papyrus, watch out for chocolate” Sans picked her up and took her to the bathroom leaving Papyrus in the kitchen. It wasn’t the best idea but he didn’t mind it. He filled the bath with warm water and undressed Hope. Cracks on her ribs were almost gone, she looked much better than a few days ago. Her bones were healthy white. He grinned at this sight and put her in the bath. She instantly shifted into her canine form and tried to swim. She was full of energy, maybe because of all that sugar.

 

Sans laughed when he poured some white liquid soap on her head. “Bubble water!” she giggled and dived. She returned to the surface quickly to watch the bubbles forming on the water. Sans smiled and took some bubbles on his hand and then placed it on Hope’s head. He formed them in a shape of a hat. She laughed with pure joy. The most beautiful sound in the world.

 

Than they splashed water at each other. Finally Sans took her out of the water and dried her when she shifted back. He sniffed the air. “You smell like sugar and flowers” he chuckled. Than he dressed her up. “Dande-lions?” she asked with a wide smile and he answered with a burst of laughter.

 

They returned to the kitchen. Hot chocolate had already been spoiled so Sans prepared another cup. Or rather two, one for her and one for him. Than they sat down on the couch.Hope was even able to hold the cup on her own.

 

Sans looked through the window. Snow wasn’t falling so hard this day. “Wanna go out and play a little?” he asked her. She nodded while almost dropping the cup. He chuckled and finished his chocolate. Hope finished hers and they put on their jackets.

 

Even Papyrus wanted to go out for a while. The skeleton family left the house. Snow was falling but it wasn’t a snowstorm like the previous day. Hope almost instantly shifted into the canine form. Sans and Papyrus followed her. In a short time near the house stood two large blaster beast and one puppy. She was running through the snow while also trying not to get to far from Sans and Papyrus. Taller skeleton couldn’t resist.

 

Papyrus suddenly dashed towards her like he was going to slam her but in the last second he leaped over her. Then he started chasing her. Sans laughed at his sighed and quickly joined the fun. They were going deeper into the forest, chasing each other. Then they saw a river. Lots and lots of rushing water with some stones scattered all over it. They stopped on its edge. Sans knew what to do.

 

“Watch” he growled happily to Hope and opened his jaws. Blue light began to form in his mouth in a shape of a giant ball. Than he shoot a blue beam. Hope watched it with excitement. The beam struck one of the trees on the other side of the river causing it to fall creating a bridge. Sans put Hope on his back and carefully stepped on the log. They got on the other side without any problems. They continued playing until they all lied down on the snow breathing heavily. They all had smiles on their faces. Hope managed to climb on Sans’ back where she curled up. She was exhausted but happy. Sans slowly stood up. The skeleton family slowly headed back to the house.

  
When they came back home it was already late. Hope was sleeping peacefully on Sans’ back and he realized he forgot to put the salve on her burns. But after the wild play outside he didn’t know if they were painful for her or not. He went upstairs and put Hope in the dog bed. Than he lied down next to her wrapping his paws around her. His cute little marshmallow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm proud of myself. Usually I can't write this amount of fluff without much more angst.  
> And thanks for all kudos! ^^


	7. Colors and Machines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys visited the skeleton family. And Sans kinda lost control of himself...

Sans woke up really late this time. Just like he had used to wake up before Hope had joined their family. He opened his eyesockets to see little skeleton puppy shut in his hug. He smiled at this sight and slowly got up. He shifted into his normal form and left the room. He couldn’t hear any sounds coming from the kitchen so Papyrus was still sleeping. It meant that Sans had more time to prepare breakfast for Hope. She had been only eating Papyrus’ spaghetti before so it’s about time for her to eat something normal. Even if it was instant noodles or rice. He should also call Alphys to inform her about child’s current state. Mostly about the burns.

 

He went down the stairs. Speak of the devil, the yellow lizard was sitting on the couch in her green sweatshirt. She held her black bag in her hands. She noticed him and waved to him even if he was a few steps from her.

 

“Alphys, what are you doing here?” he asked her. She really surprised him. Suddenly her face turned red. “Actually,  I came to take Hope… to the lab…” she said shyly.

 

She looked at him and shivered. His eyes were pitch black.

 

In the next second he was next to her in his canine form. He held his paw on her neck like he was about to kill her, slash her throat with his claws and watch her blood spilling on the floor. She was breathing heavily in panic while watching him.

 

“What. Did. You. Say?” he said slowly and clenched his teeth. Blue inferno was raging in his left eyesocket. In this moment Sans was nothing more than pure fury ready to be unleashed.

 

“I… I need to… examine her… using my machine…” she whispered almost suffocating because of fear. She had never seen Sans acting in so wild and dangerous way.

 

Blue fire slowly died out and the skeleton monster moved away from Alphys. He sat down next to her and shifted. He chuckled awkwardly realizing what he had almost done.

 

“Sorry for that… just overreacted... “ he explained and watched her calming down. She nodded slowly. “It’s… It’s okay, I understand… Even if is still don’t understand how you can talk in both languages in both forms while the others cannot.” she tried to smile. Sans rubbed the back of his skull. Then there was silence.

 

Alphys finally found the courage to stop it and say anything. “You really care about that child, don’t you?” she whispered. He looked at her with an unspoken question in his eyes. She saw it. “It’s just… Well, who do you think is she for you?” she asked and looked deep into his eyesockets, no, deep into his soul like she was seeking for an answer. His eyelights were glowing slightly brighter than normal when he recalled how she had called him.

 

_“Da”_

 

Alphys accepted this silence and smiled a little wider. She moved closer and put her hand on his shoulder. “Can you wake her up now? The examination’s long and I want it to finish before it gets dark” she said. He slowly nodded and got up. He went upstairs, straight to his room. Alphys’ machines were the only things able to say if Hope was fully healed.

 

He kneeled down next to her and petted her gently. “Hey, Hope, wake up” he said quietly and watched her with a wide grin. Her eyesockets slowly opened and she looked at him sleepily. He picked her up carefully. “We’re going on a walk to Alphys’ home. Do you remember this yellow lizard?” she nodded. “So shift because she’s waiting for us downstairs.” Hope shifted in his arms. She looked at him with those big child’s eyelights in a light shade of pink. The most beautiful thing in the world. He left the room and went to Alphys. She smiled at the sight of Hope in his arms but didn’t say anything. She got up and they left the house. As soon as they were outside Sans put Hope on the ground and took her hand. Alphys was walking close to them smiling broadly each time Hope looked at her. They went past the center of Snowdin and headed towards the place the riverman usually was. They also were there at this moment waiting for them patiently. Hoped looked at them with curiosity. When they all got aboard the riverman began to hum a simple melody. Their boat responded and headed to Hotlands.

 

While Hope was looking around and pointing at certain things at the landscape, Sans was thinking. The sight of the lab will probably make her panic and that’s what he wanted to avoid. What should he do to ensure her there’s nothing to worry about?

 

The temperature of the air slightly changed as they entered the Waterfall. Water was falling from the ceiling which had many crystals in it. Hope looked excited and lifted her almost fingerless hand like she was trying to catch the “stars” as the monsters used to call them. Sans was on his guard ready to catch her if she falls out of the boat. She watched her laughing and leaning to touch the cold water using her left thumb. Than she focused on something.

 

“Swimming stars!” she said with joy and watched something hidden under water. Sans also peeked to see what was she talking about.

 

He saw unbelievable amount of monsters swimming deep underwater. They were glowing in different colors just like the crystals above them. Some of them were shaped like fish while the others like octopuses and jellyfish. A few monsters noticed Hope’s excited look and started dancing. They changed colors with every move. Then one of them became white.

 

In the next moment Hope was with Sans. He was surprised but tried not to show it. He just kneeled down to her. “What’s up, Hope?” he asked quietly. She pointed the water. “White. Hate me.” she whispered. Sans couldn’t hide his astonishment this time. “Why do you think so?” “White always hate. Lab. Doctor hates. Changes colors.” she explained. Alphys was listening with curiosity. “Changes color of magic? But it requires changing the color of the soul. It’s impossible! No monster can change their main color in a moment!” she said with a frown.

 

“Tell us about his colors” Sans asked. Hope slowly nodded. “White. Hate. Light blue. During tests. Waiting. Purple. Exa… Examination... Grey. Nothing.” Alphys still was frowning. “But most of the monsters have souls in a light grey shade. And they also are able to feel something.” she said. Alphys had her theory and Hope had her memories. “I know. Doctor. Gave us colors. He creates.” And then there was silence. Alphys and Sans were thinking about what she said. It meant Doctor was more powerful than they thought. He could change his soul’s color at will and could give a color to one of his creations’ soul. And he was the one who made up which color ment which feeling.

 

The temperature of the air changed again and the ceiling full of crystals disappeared. They were reaching Hotlands. “Just tell me one more thing. Which color ment determination in the Lab?” said Alphys. But Hope just shrugged. She didn’t know that. Alphys was quiet for the rest of the travel. Hope kept close to Sans suddenly quiet and shy. Finally the riverman stopped the boat and hummed their melody. “Tra la la~ Come again~!” The skeletons and Alphys got out of the boat and headed to the lab.

 

As soon as the giant white building came into sight Hope hid behind Sans. “No…” she whispered. Sans kneeled down next to her. She flinched and took a step back. She looked scared like an animal in a trap. But Sans just slowly wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay.” he felt her shivering. “I promise you, you won’t see the Doctor again. Trust me, Hope” he said trying to calm her down. She buried her head in his jacket. He tightened the embrace and picked her up while still hugging her. She still looked scared like she was about to shift and run away in her canine form.

 

They slowly approached the lab and entered it. Huge room with a giant screen on the wall welcomed them. The room was white and mostly empty, there was only a desk with a computer and a large mess on it. Alphys told them to ignore that but while walking past the screen, Sans looked at it. It was connected to a camera and was showing a patch of light with some golden flowers growing in it. This light didn’t look like crystals’ like but like a sunlight. Sans had never seen a sunlight, he had only read about it in history books. They described it as beautiful golden light of hope coming from the sky. It gave warmth to the surface and caused many kinds of flowers to grow there. The Underground didn’t have such a thing. The only flowers growing there were echoflowers, golden flowers and buttercups.

 

Sans followed Alphys to an elevator next to the desk. It was small and there were manny buttons on the wall. He didn’t know the lab was so huge. But Alphys didn’t want to go somewhere really deep, she pressed the button labeled as ‘-1’ and an elevator started moving. Sans felt a tight grip on his arm and looked at Hope. Her breaths were really fast and lights in her eyes were dim like she was about to pass out. He didn’t know how to calm her, he also didn’t like this place.

 

Elevator stopped and they all went out. There was a long corridor with many doors on both sides of it. They followed Alphys for a short while until she entered one of the rooms on the left. Sans hugged Hope and went in. He had a bad feeling about this.

 

The room looked like an operation room. Clean and white with a steel table in the middle and many strange machines next to it. There was also a machine by a wall behind the table. It had a glass tube and many wires connecting the tube to a green screen. Hope was shivering.

 

Sans had no idea what to do so he started humming a melody he had heard in TV. It was a song from an evening program for kids. He even remembered some lyrics.

 

_Twinkle, twinkle, little star_

_How I wonder what you are_

_Up above the world so high_

_Like diamond in the sky._

 

It was a human song but it worked. Hope’s breathing slowed down and she looked a little calmer. Alphys watched him with a smile. She quickly turned her eyes on the machines near the table when Sans saw her sight.

 

“T-Tell her to s-sit down here” she said and pointed the table. Sans put her on the edge of the table and sat down next to her. He held her left hand to somehow soothe her nerves. The last thing he wanted was his child unconscious.

 

His child.

 

It was his thought. And an answer to Alphys’ question from earlier. He hadn’t thought about himself as a father. They both were created by the same person. But he somehow felt responsible for her and not like a brother. He loved her the way parents love their children. He finally admitted it.

 

“You will find this uncomfortable b-but don’t worry! It’s a part of an examination.” said Alphys taking a scalpel from under the table. Hope flinched and turned to Sans with fear in her eyes. He hugged at her and looked at Alphys. It was a ‘do-something-wrong-and-I-will-kill-you’ look. She chuckled awkwardly and began to sweat. She slowly took little skeleton’s hand and looked at the palm. She frowned when she saw the burns. She put the scalpel on the bone and started to slowly scratch it. Hope clenched her teeth. Sans looked at Alphys again. She was oficially dead.

 

“It shouldn’t hurt… Bones with burns so bad are actually dead… she shouldn’t feel them…” she said with fear in her eyes. Sans this morning was nothing compared to Sans now. His look was so full of anger and fury she wanted to hide under the table they were sitting on. She shivered and slowly approached the machine by the wall while trying not to lose eye contact with Sans. She was really scared of him.

 

Alphys put this little amount of black powder she could gather in the tube and turned the machine on. It started making strange noises. After pressing one button the powder disappeared. Alphys frowned when a lot of text showed up on the screen. “I didn’t… I’m not prepared…” she whispered. Than she looked at Sans. He was smiling at Hope and slowly calming her down. She went to the door.

 

“Follow me” she said and left the room. Sans stood up and took Hope. Alphys led them to another room looking even more like an operation room than the one before. It had only a steel table with machine connected to it. It had a half of a glass tube ready to cover the table.

 

“Calm her a little and tell her to lie down there” she said. Sans looked annoyed. “She understands you, she’s not an animal” he growled. She just nodded and pointed the table. The machine looked strange, many wires were attached to the tube. Sans didn’t know what to think about this. He trusted Alphys but he also didn’t want to scare Hope to death. She had almost passed out a while ago.

 

He sighed and put Hope on the table. “Don’t worry, I’m here. And I’ll never allow anybody to hurt you” he said. He slowly lied her down on the table. She looked at him and forced a smile.

 

Than the half of the tube fell shutting her inside. She instantly began to panic. “It’s okay, I’m here” said Sans and put his hand on the glass. She was breathing really fast. She tried to hit the glass but she was too weak. Alphys switched the lever and pressed some buttons on the screen. Than she watched Hope.

 

Child suddenly passed out. Sans was about to start yelling at Alphys that something was wrong when he saw something. A tiny light escaped Hope’s chest and was floating above her. He focused his eyes on it. It wasn’t a light, it was her soul. Little reversed heart in a light shade of pink just like her eyes when she was happy. He watched it. There are only a few times in monster’s life when their soul shows up. A few moments after birth, during a fight, when near a soulmate and… in the moment of death.

 

“Alphys… If something happens to her, I swear I’ll…” “Calm down, I’ve just put some Soul Gas in the tube. It does no harm. She will feel dizzy after waking up but that’s all. And now I can examine her soul so I know everything about her health” scientist explained. She focused on the heart floating above unconscious Hope. She took notes then took a few photos with a really weird looking camera and finally pressed a button on the machine. After a while little heart came back on its place and the glass was slowly lifted. Sans took her and hugged her. She was still breathing.

 

“Let’s talk about her current state. But I need my computer to analise the photos.” Alphys said and left the room. Sans followed her back to the elevator and to her desk covered in lots of paper scraps and figures of anime characters. She quickly typed something and a new document appeared on the screen. Than she put the photos and notes in front of the camera one after one. They showed up on the computer screen right with a 3D model of Hope and her soul. Than her program started analysing the informations.

 

“To begin with, her soul looks weak but stable, it’s just a matter of time when it becomes stronger. She’s still a child. Her burns look really strange, they aren’t regenerating. We should give them more time. Use the salve I gave you. Worse news are coming. I thought her eyes will fully regenerate but I’m not sure now. While her right eyes is okay, her left one is almost completely blind. I don’t know if It can be healed.” she finished. Sans looked at her with shock.

 

“And you managed to read this all from some photos of her soul?” he asked. She giggled. “Actually, no. Her burns are seen with bare eyes, it’s obvious they would have started regenerating themselves by this time. About her eyes… I know you probably didn’t notice that but her left eyelight flickers sometimes. Rarely but it does. It’s an obvious sign of blindness.” Alphys saved and closed the document. Than took something from under the desk. “For her. So she wouldn’t remember me as a cruel lizard who puts her in the tube” she said with a smile and showed him a pink ribbon matching Hope’s jacket. It had already been tied up and was ready to be put on monster’s head. It didn’t need hair, it could stick to anything. How? Magic. Seriously. Sans thanked her and took the ribbon. The examination was over. Alphys said she would inform her about everything she finds out. “And…” she began but bit her tongue. Sans looked at her. “It’s just… This is the second time a skeleton escaped from The Lab. Somebody may come to take her. Keep that in mind.” she said. He frowned and nodded. The process of creating life must be very long and expensive so they couldn’t afford a loss of another subject.

 

Alphys took Sans and unconscious Hope to the riverman. She had been waving for a long time before they left her eyesight. Than she sighed and took out her phone. The information on the computer were synchronized with the ones on the phone so she could check them everywhere. She one more time read the results of soul examination. “Good luck, Sans” she whispered to herself “You’ll need it.”

  
  


Hope woke up when they were in the middle of Waterfall. She blinked a few times and Sans for the first time saw what Alphys had been talking about. Hope’s left eyelight was missing for the first few seconds after waking up while the right one was on its place like it should. The left one flickered and came back. She looked confused. “Where?” “On the way home” Sans answered softly and showed her the ribbon. “A little gift from Alphys. For a very brave patient” he said and put it near her right temple. She giggled and looked at Sans. She looked really adorable. He petted her with a wide grin.

 

Her smile was much prettier than sunlight and more beautiful than any flowers from the surface. He wanted to watch her smiling and laughing forever. He was even ready to kill the one who wanted to hurt her.

 

Riverman hummed his melody announcing the end of the travel. They were in Snowdin again and it was really late. The journey both ways took more time than they thought. Hope also looked really hungry. She hadn’t eaten breakfast. Grillby’ should be still open.

 

Sans thanked the riverman and got out of the boat with Hope in his arms. He put her on the ground and took her hand. Than they both went to the bar.

 

Snowdin was dark and quiet, everyone were probably in their beds. They didn’t see a single monster on their way. They went inside and everything became clear. Lesser dog, Greater dog, Dogamy and Dogaressa were eating and barking while sitting by the biggest table there. A monster looking like a plant had fallen asleep and was currently snoring with their face in the plate of fries. A monster looking like a humanoid horse was trying to fix the jukebox. There was even a wingless devil drinking coffee. Sans went up to Grillby who was pouring more coffee to devil’s cup. He looked content, paid for it and began to drink. Skeleton said ‘hi’ in both dog and normal language so everyone could understand him. His growling woke up the plant monster but when they saw that was only Sans, they fell asleep again. The devil murmured something.

 

“Two plates of fries and a bottle of ketchup, please” said Sans and sat down on a stool. He put Hope on his knees. Grillby nodded and went to the kitchen.

 

Dogaressa looked curious. She slowly went up to Sans. He saw her when she tried to sniff Hope. Child looked frightened, she quickly covered her eyes with her hands. Dogaressa flinched when she saw her left hand. “Nothing to worry about. Hope, that’s Dogaressa. Dogaressa, that’s Hope.” he introduced them both. “Hi, little one” Dogaressa said in the dog language with a pleasant smile. Hope shifted into her canine form. “Hi...?” she growled unsurely. Blaster beast language always sounds like a growl. Dogaressa giggled. She petted the child. “You’re such a cute puppy” she said. “But it’s really cold outside, isn’t it? You’ll catch a cold!” then she called her boyfriend. Dogamy came at instant. They whispered a little, than left the gold for their food and left the bar. Sans was really surprised.

 

Grillby came back with two plates of fries. He put them in front of the skeleton and sprinkled Hope’s plate with sugar. She shifted and started eating. Sans firstly drowned his fries in ketchup.

 

“Where were you today? Papyrus was looking for you” said the elemental. Sans flinched and took out his cell phone. At least thirty messages from Papyrus were waiting for him. Wait, at least FIFTY messages from Paps were waiting for him. Sans sighed and deleted them all. “We were on an ex… in Alphys’ lab. She needed to check Hope’s health with her machines.” he explained. Grillby nodded. “How are you, Hope?” he asked her. She swallowed the fries she was eating. “Fine” she said quietly and continued eating. Sans ate his fries quickly and drank the ketchup. “Thanks, dad” he said and left the bar.

 

In the same moment he went outside he saw Dogamy and Dogaressa. They were running towards him but stopped right in front of him and Hope. Dogaressa gave Hope a box wrapped in a colorful paper. Child slowly took it. “Emmm, Dogaressa, can you do me a favor?” Sans asked. She nodded. “Can you take the bed with wooden bars from our room? It looks like a cage for her. Dogaressa nodded again. “Sorry, we use those kinds of beds to keep puppies in one place during night. We’ll replace with something better” she promised and ran to skeletons’ house. Dogamy followed her. Sans with Hope slowly walked after them. Little skeleton was holding the gift from the dogs.

 

When they entered the house they saw the parts of the bed on the floor. Dogs were packing them in a large box. Skeletons were about to go upstairs when a few blue bones appeared on the stairs. Sans stopped Hope so she didn’t go right into them. On the top of the stairs stood Papyrus. And he looked furious.

 

“BROTHER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU TWO! WHERE WERE YOU?!” he asked. “We were visiting Alphys in her lab. And we are bone tired now.” Sans explained and sighed. He snapped his fingers and dismissed his brother bones. Than they both went upstairs. Papyrus was so confused by his brother’s answer he let them go past him. Hope was confused too.

 

But when Sans entered his room he also became confused. The bed with wooden bar had been replaced by a small kennel but not too small so Hope could sleep there comfortably. Sans had no idea how the dogs had managed to do this in such a short time.

  
Child was almost sleeping so she took off her jacket and shifted into her canine form. Sans took the pillow from the dog bed and put it inside the kennel. She curled up on it and quickly fell asleep. Sans just approached his bed and fell on it. He felt his body was so heavy like a bag full of bricks. It was a long day full of misunderstandings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that was a long chapter! The oncoming chapters will be long as well so it will take me some time to write them. Stay patient and determined! And again thanks for all kudos!


	8. Secret of Blindness and Snow Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope wasn't feeling very well after waking up so she took a nap on Sans' knees. The secret of blindness was revealed. Then they went outside to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I described why Hope's left eye's blind. If you don't like dark descriptions, don't read the text between the lines. Everyone hates Gaster.

Crystals were shining brightly when Hope finally opened her eyes. She felt bad. The hand Alphys had scratched felt like put into fire again and stung by a thousand of needles. Her head was pounding with pain like she had hit the wall many times really hard. Her vision was still limited and her left eye was numb. She didn’t even know if she opened it or no. But it was nothing new. The pain in her chest was worse. Like her soul had been ripped apart and then the pieces had been sewn back into a shape of a reversed heart. She let out a whine of a beaten puppy and closed her eyes. She wanted to sleep a little more and wake up when the pain’s gone. When she had been in the Lab, she wanted to pass out as fast as she could during the examination.

 

She didn’t hear anything from outside the kennel so she thought Sans was still asleep. She wanted him to hug her. It would chase all the pain away. Near Sans there was safety and warmth. And not hurting fire.

 

“Hope? Sorry but I need to put the salve on your burns. And I’ve planned something for today” she heard Sans’ calm voice. She didn’t move even an inch. Then she felt a warm hand petting her gently. The pain in her skull wasn’t as bad as before. Sans was close. Nothing could be bad.

 

He slowly pulled her closer to him with the pillow she was lying on. She slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes. She didn’t know if the numb eye opened too. Sans looked worried. She didn’t want to see him worried.

 

“Hey, what’s up?” he whispered. He picked her up carefully and stood up. “Hurts” she murmured. She really didn’t want to worry him or make him sad. He was so nice to her.

 

“Shhh, shhhh, it’s going _tibia_ okay” he said and hugged her while leaving the room. She couldn't feel the pain anymore. Sans was close.

 

He went down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Than he sat down on a chair and put her on his knees. She curled up again and closed her eyes. She felt Sans taking her paw and putting the salve on the burns. The salve was cold but not freezing cold, just uncomfortably cold. He put it on her both paws and covered the burns with bandages.

 

Someone was cooking, probably Papyrus. The smell of burnt spaghetti was unpleasant but she didn’t mind it. She wouldn’t feel the terrible taste of Papyrus’ spaghetti after all. Than she felt another hand on her head, a larger one. It wasn’t as warm as Sans’ but still nice.

 

“MAYBE WE SHOULD CALL ALPHYS?” she heard Papyrus’ voice. “Those are just the side effects of inhaling the Soul Gas. She sent me a message an hour ago. She just needs to rest a little.” that was Sans’ voice. Yes, rest. That’s what she needed. He always knew what she needed.

 

Sans went to the living room and sat down on the couch with Hope in his arms. He put her on his knees allowing her to curl up and fall asleep.

 

* * *

 

_Silence. It was weird, unnatural. It was to quiet, it shouldn’t be, she was scared, so frightened, she wanted to run away and never look back. But the door had already been shut. There was no escape from the operation room._

 

_It was huge, much bigger than any of Alphys rooms. And empty. There was only a single steel table in the middle with a strange machine attached to it. It had a huge drill pointed at a pile of silver dust on the table. She knew what that meant._

 

_“Subject 19 haven’t made it. Let’s try it with Subject 23.” Said the Doctor while holding her. She had a magic muzzle on her head and she was in her canine form. The Doctor looked really angry. His last experiments had failed badly._

 

_The muzzle disappeared with a snap of Doctor’s fingers. Red magic covered the dust and shoved the most of the dust off the table like it was nothing important. Than he lied her down on the cold steel and tied her to the table using hard leather belts. She knew struggling wouldn’t help her, it would only make things worse._

 

_He snapped his fingers and red magic forced her left eye to stay opened. She wanted to close it so she wouldn’t see anything. She saw the drill above her._

 

_“Stay still and nothing bad happens.” Doctor looked like he lost his patience. He pressed one button. Large noise of working drill filled the room. She started breathing fast because of fear. The drill was slowly getting closer. “Applying colors directly to a soul is too dangerous. But it is somehow connected to monster’s left eye...” Doctor said. He pressed another button. The drill covered itself in hundreds of different shades of colors. Beautiful but frightening in the same while. Then they slipped to the end of the drill and merged into a ball of colors. Then the drill reached her left eyesocket._

 

_She screamed, shrieked and struggled while the machine was thrusting deeper into her skull. Doctor was silent, invulnerable to her screams full of pain. She didn’t even feel when the drill left her eye, she was still feeling it in her eyesocket. She couldn’t see anything either. A leather strip blocking her left arm broke and she covered her left eye with her paw. She wanted it to stop, she wanted to take the source of this unbelievable pain out of her eye. It had to be really deep because she couldn’t even feel her left eye. Her mind was covered in mist of fear so she didn’t know what she was doing. She just wanted to **take this out** of her. She put her claws _ **_into_ ** _her eyesocket and started_ **_scratching_ ** _the inside of her skull._

 

_She heard the sound of something_ **_cracking_ ** _loudly in her skull. A large wave of pain attacked her whole body but then suddenly everything was gone. She felt someone’s magic grabbing her left paw and taking it out of her eyesocket._

 

_A half of her vision remained pitch black. But the pain was gone. And that’s what mattered._

 

* * *

 

“Hope!” She heard someone’s muffled voice. Like he was really far away from her. “Hope! Wake up! Stop!” It was Sans. But why was he shouting? She was just sleeping… She wasn’t doing anything wrong. “Kid, stop it! You’ll hurt yourself!” What? What was he talking about?

 

That was the moment she realized her teeth were clenched and she was holding her left thumb in her left eyesocket. She knew she was scratching the inside of her skull but she couldn’t feel it. She was breathing really fast and her throat was sore like she had been screaming for a long time. It probably was truth.

 

She slowly put her paw out of her eyesocket and lifted her eyes. She was on Sans’ knees. He was holding her shoulders, he had probably been shaking her. His eyes were full of sorrow and tears. He sighed with relief when he saw she was awake. He hugged her tightly.

 

“I was so worried about you…” he whispered. She noticed scared Papyrus standing near the couch. “Sorry…” she said. She felt horrible. “Sorry…” she repeated. She felt tears on her cheekbones.

 

“Okay, okay… Wanna talk about this nightmare? Sounded pretty bad” said Sans and looked into her eyesockets. She slowly shook her head. He seemed to understand her. Papyrus went to the kitchen, he also looked relieved. He came back soon with a plate of spaghetti covered in sugar. Her stomach reminded her about itself with a loud growl. Sans chuckled. He held the plate in front of her so she could eat the food. It quickly disappeared in her mouth.

 

She looked normal like the bad dream had never taken place. It was almost afternoon so Sans hadn’t abandoned his plans yet.

 

“We’re going on a little trip, Hope” he said. “Only if you’re okay, of course. I just need to introduce you to someone” he added. She slowly nodded and shifted. Since the examination Sans had observed her left eye. He noticed it flickering every time she woke up or shifted. Alphys was right about it.

 

“Papyrus, we’re going to Waterfall. Leave us some spaghetti for evening” he told his brother and took Hope’s jacket. He also found the gift from Dogaressa. He gave it to Hope. She slowly unwrapped the colorful paper and carefully opened a box inside. There was a warm white scarf inside, looked like a cotton one but they weren’t sure about it. Sans slowly picked it up. It was nice to the touch, the most soft scarf Sans had ever seen. He carefully wrapped it around Hope’s neck but not too tightly, leaving the fluff from her jacket close to her bone. She smiled during the process. It was a little too long so the end of the scarf was lying flat on her back.

 

A wide smile was a result. She whole looked even more fluffy than before. Sans chuckled and they left the house. Snow was falling and Snowdin was full of life. Wherever they looked there was at least one monster. There were also some kids running around and playing in the snow. The Festival of Lights was coming soon so most of the monsters were decorating their houses. Only children had no housework and could spend their days free from school on playing. Sans and Hope were suddenly surrounded by Monster Kid, a drake with his head looking lika a snowflake and a little humanoid snowman with a large head wearing an ice hat. Then their friend joined them, he looked exactly like the drake but he was wearing sunglasses.

 

“Hey, yo! Wanna play with us, yo? It would be a great fun, yo!” Monster Kid was really excited. The rest of the kids were smiling and staring at Hope. She looked at Sans. He showed his grin in response. If she wanted to live here, she needed to know some children from the neighbourhood so she wouldn’t feel lonely later at school. Skeleton nodded. “I can introduce you to my friend another day. Just go and play.” he said. Kids started yelling their names. The drake was called Snowdrake, his friend in glasses was Chilldrake and the little guy in the hat was Ice Cap. Sans watched from a distance as they started running around in the snow. Hope shifted and shyly chased them, slowly getting more confidence. Soon she was laughing with them while rolling in the snow.

 

After the wild run they started building a small castle from the snow. They wanted to play the game “Rescue the princess” but the only girl among them was Hope and she also looked like a dangerous monster defending the castle. Then a mouse with a long scarf covering their whole body came and sat down in the middle of the castle while not even knowing that. They wanted to nap for a longer moment.

 

Hope lied down in front of the snow building and growled at the kids. She actually was saying something like “Funny! Wraaaah! Ha ha!” but the children took it as the beginning of the game. The rules were simple, the defending monster should protect the princess from the knights who want to save her. It was a little unfair since Hope was alone and the opponents were four but her growls were scaring them a little. They took the sticks from the forest and started swinging them.

 

“I’ll kill the beast using my sword and free the pretty princess!” Snowdrake said and took a stick in his mouth. He attached with a muffled roar. But before he could attack Hope, she rushed at him and kicked him. He fell on the ground but it gave time to the other kids. They attacked her all at sudden and started poking her with their sticks. She involuntarily defended herself using her claws. Children left her alone when they saw a scratch on Monster Kid’s cheek.

 

Sans didn’t know if he should do something. He just stood by the wall of a house and watched them.

 

“Hey, MK, you okay?” asked Ice Cap. “She hurt him” whispered Chilldrake. Hope felt small like an ant under their gazes. She stared at them with fear. The drakes and the snowman looked angry and scared at the same while. The first one who broke the silence was Monster Kid.

 

“Don’t mind it, it’s small and doesn’t hurt” he said and approached Hope. He smiled at her widely. ”It was a great fun!” she nodded in response. Then they built two snow walls and started throwing snowballs from behind them. Hope was in her bipedal form so they were a little calmer. She couldn’t make a good snowball because of her lack of fingers so she was constantly upgrading their snow wall.

 

The fun ended when they all got tired. The monsters said goodbye to Hope, not scared of her anymore and went back to their homes. It was getting dark. Sans approached her and quickly grabbed her before she could realize. She began to laugh when she found herself in his arms.

 

“Did you enjoy the fun?” he asked with a wide grin. She nodded with bright eyelights. He loved this sight. It almost made him forgot about her nightmare in the morning. He began to head home. She hugged him tightly when he was carrying her. When he went inside he found her fast asleep in his arms. He chuckled and went upstairs to put her to bed. She was in her bipedal form so he thought he shouldn’t put her in the dog bed. He just lied her down in his bed and covered with a blanket. He also carefully took off her bandages. Her burns remained there. They are really a mystery. Then he went downstairs and sat down on the couch.

  
It was not that he didn’t want to introduce Hope to his friend, it was just… This meeting may turn into a disaster. That’s why he let Hope play a little. He lied down and fell asleep instantly. Hope’s smile was what he saw in his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually, her nightmare and the fun in the snow, I had fun during writing them both. It's a little creepy...


	9. Spears and Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doctor made his move. Hope and Sans visited Undyne. Then Sans made a promise...

It was Papyrus who woke Sans up. Shorter skeleton looked at him with sleepy eyes.

 

“I CALLED UNDYNE. WHY DIDN’T YOU VISIT HER YESTERDAY?” he asked. Sans shrugged. “Hope had a skele-ton of fun and I didn’t want to interrupt her.” he explained. He sat up still under his brother's gaze. He realized Papyrus was holding two plates of spaghetti. Skeleton peeked quickly at the clock hanging on the wall. It wasn’t so late.

 

“We’ll visit her today” Sans said and took one of the plates. Hope was probably still asleep. He went to the kitchen and sprinkled the spaghetti with sugar. He left it on the table and went upstairs to his room. Child wasn’t in bed.

 

She had somehow managed to get on the windowsill and she was sitting there while staring at the ceiling of the Underground through the window. The crystals were slowly lighting up. It was something like a sunrise in the underground.

 

Sans approached her and stood next to her. “Enjoying the view?” he asked. She flinched but calmed down when she realized it was him. She nodded and began to stare at the crystals again. Sans sighed. “Remember the area with a lot of rushing water and colorful crystals?” she nodded one more time. “We’re going on a little trip there in a few moments. My friend really wants to meet you.” he finished. Hope smiled when she heard about visiting Waterfall again. She really liked looking at colorful things.

 

“But firstly, the salve.” he said. She frowned like she didn’t like this part of the day. He chuckled. “Your burns need it to heal properly” he explained. He took the salve and the bandages then sat down on the bed with her on his knees. Soon the salve was on the burns and bandages were covering it. Hope didn’t look happy but she didn’t complain.

 

When Sans was about to put her back on the floor, his cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. Alphys’ photo was smiling at him. He pressed the green button but before he could ask anything she hanged up. Sans quickly phoned her.

 

“Y-yea...?” “Alphys, why did you hang up?” “Ummmm… Misclick, I suppose...?” “Why are you so nervous?” “It’s just… I… I don’t know how it happened…” “Alphys, what are you talking about?” “Someone… Someone had hacked into my computer… the best secured computer in the whole Underground… and they had s-stolen information about Hope…” “...” “S-Sans…?” “Just thinking. We’re going to Waterfall today.” “I know, U-Undyne told me… You’ll be safe there. Just…. Stay on your guard, Sans” “I will, thanks”

 

Then he hanged up. Not good. The Doctor or one of his assistants made a move. They wanted Hope back in the Lab. Wherever it was.

 

He put Hope back on the floor and stood up. Than they went downstairs to the kitchen. Papyrus Immediately saw his brother’s worried face.

 

“WHAT’S GOING ON, SANS?” he asked. Hope sat down on the chair and began to eat spaghetti. Sans made a quick motion towards the living room. Brothers left the kitchen. Sans sight as soon as they were out of Hope’s earshot.

 

“TELL ME NOW” Papyrus demanded. Sans sat down on the couch. “Alphys called me… Someone stole the information about Hope from her computer…” “BUT WHY ARE YOU SO WORRIED?”

 

“Don’t you understand?! Someone’s looking for her!” “I UNDERSTAND. BUT YOU SHOULDN’T BE SO WORRIED. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM HERE!” Sans sighed with frustration. “Just try to be serious while talking about such things…” “I’VE NEVER EXPECTED THE MOST PUNNY GUY I KNOW TO TELL ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, TO BE SERIOUS. AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM SERIOUS NOW. WE WILL PROTECT HER!” Sans looked concerned but didn’t answer. He just went to the kitchen and took a bottle of ketchup from the fridge. Hope hadn't finished eating yet but she stopped when she noticed him.

 

“Da?”

 

He flinched with a bottle in his hand. She slowly turned to her. She was looking at him with sadness in her bright eyelights. Her left eye flickered.

 

“Why worried?” she said. He slowly approached her and petted her gently. A weak smile was forced on his face. “Nothing. Finish your breakfast and we’re leaving.” he said calmly. She ate the rest of spaghetti and put on her jacket. Sans wrapped her scarf around her neck and they both left the house. Papyrus waved to them.

 

Soon they were sitting in Riverman’s boat. Hope was sitting on Sans’ knees strangely quiet. But as soon as more crystals appeared around them a wide smile grew on her face. She began to point at the most colorful ones and giggle. Some of them had animal shapes. One of the crystals looked like a leaf while other ones were formed in a shape of a fish. Sans joined her and pointed a red one and said it looked like a ketchup bottle to him. She laughed so hard her face turned pink.

 

“Do stars have names?” she asked. She was getting better in speaking. Sans looked at the ceiling. “I don’t think so. They are just stars.” he said and pointed a lonely crystal in a shape of a stick. “This one looks  _ bonely _ ” he said causing Hope to burst out with laughter. “Give names!” she said suddenly with a smile. Sans grinned. “That’s a good idea but there are too many of them.” But she didn’t give up. “Give names to special stars!” she said. He nodded. The lonely white stick-shaped crystal was named Bone, the red one Ketchup and a group of glowing amethysts Flowers. Hope looked so happy. Giving names to crystals in the ceiling and walls gave her so much fun.

 

But then they arrived at the Waterfall. There was only one place in this area where the riverman could dock their boat. They got out of it and thanked them. They hummed their melody in response.

 

There had to walk a little to get to Undyne’s home. The first cave they got to was really dark and there were only some mushrooms scattered on the ground. Sans took Hope’s hand and lit his eye up. The darkness wasn’t so scary anymore, blue blaze was bright enough to show them the way. Little rocks on the path were polished so they reflected the light. As soon as they got out of the cave, Sans’ fire died out. He grinned at her.

 

“How control fire?” she asked him with curiosity. He grinned even wider. “Just don’t be afraid of it. Imagine that this fire is your friend, not an enemy.” he said. She nodded slowly.

 

They reached a larger cave with some tunnels, three on the right side, one on the left and one in front of them. They went past the first two on the right and entered the third tunnel. A large house looking like fish was there. The windows were looking like angry eyes and the door like sharp teeth. Hope was a little scared. What kind of monster could live in such a frightening place?

 

They came closer and Sans knocked loudly. Someone inside groaned in frustration. Suddenly the door opened and a woman stood in front of them. Her skin was blue and her hair red like blood and rubies. Hope noticed fins on her legs and fin-like ears. The woman also had gills.

 

“You’re late, loser. You were supposed to be here yesterday” she said. Child shivered when she saw fish woman’s sharp teeth. The monster hadn’t noticed the kid yet. Sans didn’t look scared.

 

“Had a skele-ton of work in Snowdin. And little baby bones to take care of” he explained. Fish frowned and looked at Hope who tried to hide behind Sans. The woman looked really surprised, all her anger disappeared.

 

“Papyrus told me whatcha wanted me to do. But isn’t she too small?” she asked with concern. In the next second Sans’ usual grin disappeared, replaced by seriousness. “We don’t have time, Undyne. Alphys will explain you everything later.” Fish woman sighed. She went out of the room and stood in the middle of the cave her house had been placed in.

 

“Okay. Now listen, Hope.” Sans turned to her and kneeled down. “I promised I would protect you. I’ll, don't worry. But there may be a time when I won’t be near and someone may attack you. That’s why you need how to fight.” he said. She shivered and looked at him with fear. Sans petted her gently. “I’m not telling you to deal hell of a damage. You just need to know how to dodge. And you have the best teachers in the underground.” he grinned. Then he told her to sit down by the wall and watch. Hope was a little scared of course but curious too. She sat down and focused on them. “Normal training or the hard one?” asked Undyne. A bright blue spear appeared in her hand. “Normal. No soul trapping, teleports or blasters.” Sans answered and shifted into the canine form. Then the fun began.

 

A rain of spears began to fall on Sans and even more were attacking from under the ground. But it was no challenge to Sans. He was swimming through the air, swift and agile. He quickly summoned some blue bones and threw them at Undyne. “Blue means stop moving!” he shouted to Hope. She nodded. Undyne stood still until the bones hit the ground and shattered. Sans sent some white bones at her and jumped to avoid the attack from the ground. Undyne just destroyed them all using one of her spears. She suddenly fell on the ground when her opponent bashed her from behind. “Feeling a little down lately?” Sans asked with a mischievous grin. He quickly jumped to avoid a spear. He landed a few steps from Undyne. A few yellow spears appeared in the air and rushed at Sans. “Yellow is reversed!” Undyne shouted. Sans could barely dodge the spears which were still changing their direction. Some bones stroke from under Undyne’s feet forcing her to stop the attack. She had to dodge quickly but her opponent was waiting for it. He grabbed her foot causing her to fall on the ground, then he put his claws on her neck but didn’t hurt her. She whistled and they both stood up.

 

“I’ve defeated you about fifty times already” said Sans and shifted. Undyne murmured something. Then they both looked at Hope. Child’s eyes were shining with excitement. This sight even made Undyne laugh. “Wanna try?” She asked. Hope flinched and lowered her eyes. Sans sat down next to her. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to harm her and she won’t hurt you. It’s for fun and training.” he explained. Hope slowly stood up and approached Undyne shivering. She shifted and looked at her. “It will be an easy one, weakling” she said to calm her. A few blue circles appeared on the ground and after some time spears shot from them.

 

Hope looked scared but she quickly got accustomed. She began to run around so Undyne couldn’t land a single blow on her. When child was little and scared a few moments ago, she quickly transformed into a swift skeleton monster, determined to get closer to fish woman. Undyne was laughing and she made her spears faster. They also started to appear without circles. But Hope looked like a white and pink trail, she was getting closer to Undyne. Suddenly fish woman wagged her finger. Hope stopped when her soul became green and a large transparent shield appeared in front of her.

 

“You need to learn hot to face the danger” said Undyne. She summoned even more spears which began to attack child from all sites.

 

Hope’s left eyelight disappeared replaced with a pink blaze. She opened her jaws and shot a quick pink laser beam at fish woman. She had to free Hope’s soul to avoid her attack. “H-Hey, easy there!” but child couldn’t hear her. She shot one more time. Undyne barely escaped this attack. She yelled something but Hope didn’t hear her. Even Sans stood up.

 

Little skeleton lifted her hand and snapped her fingers, for the first time ever. Undyne’s soul turned pink.

 

Fish woman fell on the ground clenching her teeth. She curled on the ground from pain, the feeling of soul being torn apart was unbelievable, she had never encountered such power. She could hardly breathe, something was keeping her breath in her chest and didn’t want to stop.

 

Sans teleported to Hope and quickly hugged her while also turning her soul blue so she was pinned to the ground. “Shhhhh, shhhhh, calm down” he said. Her magic was wild, dangerous and uncontrollable. Undyne stood up like it was nothing. Little skeleton shifted, her eyelight came back with flickering and she hugged Sans. “Don’t want…” she whispered when tears began to form in her eyesockets. Sans turned her soul back to normal and picked her up.

 

The ground began to shake. Some stones fell from the cailing. “Her beams destroyed some supports. Cave-in is coming” said Undyne and waved to them. They all hid in fish woman’s house.

 

It looked more cosy from inside. It was pleasantly warm with a smell of seaweed in the air. Sans sat down on a chair and put Hope on his knees.

 

“Want some tea?” asked the warrior. “I don’t think it’s her cup of tea” said Sans pointing at Hope. Undyne clenched her teeth and approached the fridge. “I have tea, honey, water, soda, coffee and seaweed juice.” she said. Sans sas thinking for a while. “Hope likes sweet” he said. Undyne nodded and took honey out of the fridge. She put it in front of the little skeleton with a spoon. “And you?” “Not thirsty, thanks for asking”.

 

Hope began to eat honey. Sans didn’t know how she could stand this taste, it was too sweet. But child looked happy, she wasn’t worried about the situation from before anymore. Sans was petting her slowly trying not to interrupt her.

 

Undyne looked through a window. “It’s nearly over.” she said. Hope stopped eating and looked at her. Fish woman felt skeleton eyes on her so she turned to Hope. “Angry?” she asked shyly. Undyne smiled. “Not your fault. You need to know how to control your inner fire” she said. Child nodded and continued to eat.

 

The cave-in stopped completely. Hope finished honey and they all went out. There was no point in further training, Hope was stronger than they thought. Sans waved to Undyne, took kid’s hand and started heading back. There were a lot of rocks and stones on the ground. He even had to move some with his magic to clear the path. Suddenly Hope let go of his hand and ran into the darkness without any visible purpose. Sans got scared and ran after her.

 

“Da!” she shouted to him. He lit his eye up and summoned a blue fireball in his hand. Hd saw Hope sitting on the ground by a wall. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked. She showed him something she was holding.

 

His soul began to beat faster. Child was holding two crystals which must have fallen off the wall during the cave-in. One was small and pink while the other one was larger and blue like a sapphire. Hope was really proud of herself because of these findings.

 

“Da and I” she said. Sans chuckled and carefully took the crystals from her. Than he slowly lifted them with his magic and put them in the ceiling. His magic sticked them to the stone. “Stars’ place is the sky” he said with a grin. Hope nodded happily and stood up. The they both went to the riverman who had already been waiting for them.

 

It was a long day. Sans went for a while to the Librabry when they were back at Snowdin. He hurried because Hope looked really tire but a nice monstr helped him in finding books he was looking for.

 

They entered their house and went to the kitchen. It wasn’t too late so Sans prepared some hot chocolate with purple medicine and a packet of rice with sugar. Then they both sat down on the couch drinking. Sans took one of the books out of a plastic bag the monster from the library had given him and showed it to Hope. He had noticed she really liked colors so he borrowed a book about flowers from the surface. It was really old and some of the text was missing but the pictures were still pretty.

 

He showed her a drawing of a dandelion and she roared like a lion. Than he turned the page and looked at a drawing of a field of colorful tulips. Hope’s eyes were shining, her whole exhaustion from before was gone. She was truly curious about the flowers. The next few pages were covered with drawings of fields of uncountable amounts of flowers during dusk or dawn. Child was pointing only the most colorful ones. She looked really surprised that the world had so much shades, not only black, white and red. Roses, buttercups, dandelions, tulips, sunflowers, peonies and many, many more. They all were in this book so even the youngest monsters could see what they had lost.

 

“Da?” she looked at him. “Will see the flowers?” Hope asked. Sans didn’t answer at first. He didn’t like promises, he was never good in keeping them. He had already promised her he would protect her. But her big eyes and this hope in them. Hope in Hope’s eyes, sounds funny.

 

“One day we’ll be walking among the flowers much prettier than the ones in this book” he said. There was no way back now. He hated promises but he couldn’t resist it. Her smile made him determined to show her the flowers one day. She hugged him tightly.

 

“Okay, okay but now, eat your rice. It’s getting late.” he chuckled and slowly took the bandages from her hand. The burns were still there. The salve from Alphys hadn’t done anything so far. Her palms were still black. She took a spoon and started eating her rice. Using a fork while eating rice might be too hard for her.

 

He put her on the couch next to him and watched her eating. Even if she could feel only the taste of sugar, it looked like she enjoyed rice the most.

 

Sans had a strange idea. While she was eating, he covered her right eye. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Alphys. He just have to check this. And Alphys was right. As soon as he covered her right eyesocket, the left eyelight flickered and disappeared. “D-Da?” she asked. He took his hand and the left eyelight flickered again and returned back to normal. It was truth. Her left eye was completely blind and probably incurable.

 

“Sorry. Now, finish eating and I’ll tell you a bedtime story” then he reminded himself about something. He used to tell Papyrus bedtime stories when he was a baby bones. But he hadn’t read him anything since Hope joined their family. “But firstly I’ll find Papyrus. Wait for me here.” he said and left her on the couch. She didn’t look scared. Sans went to his brothers room but it was empty. He left the house unnoticed and went to Grillby’s. It was full of monsters.

 

“Where’s Papyrus?” he asked the fire elemental. Shrug was his response. Sans started to worry. There were a few more places his brother could go.

 

He wasn’t on the puzzle fields nor in the inn. But when Sans came back home, he found his brother sitting on the couch with Hope and reading the book about flowers.

 

“THEY ARE NEARLY AS COOL AS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM.” he said with a smile. Hope pointed a picture with a water lily and a butterfly. “Flying butter!” she said and giggled. Sans chuckled and approached them.

 

“Where have you been to, bro?” he asked with a grin and turned a few pages. He showed them a drawing of a river covered in water lilies and dragonflies flying above them. “Dragons” Hope giggled. “I HAVE BEEN TO UNDYNE FOR OUR USUAL TRAINING” he answered and showed Hope a picture of a bouquet of sunflowers. Her eyelight were shining brightly. Sans nodded and turned another few pages. A picture of an apple tree covered in thousands of white flowers with petals falling on the ground. Hope gasped and reached out to the drawing like she was trying to catch the white floating petals frozen in time.

 

“Okay, it’s story time” said Sans and sat down on the couch. He took Hope on his knees and took the plastic bag from the table. Then he took a book out of it. “‘PEEK A BOO WITH A FLUFFY BUNNY’ WOULD BE A BETTER CHOICE.” Papyrus complained but Sans ignored him.

 

“I found a book titled ‘Brighter than light’, sounds pretty good” he said. He put the book in front of him so Hope could also see the pictures.

 

_ “Night, the most peaceful part of a day. Time when stars are coming to life. At the beginning only one star appears on the black sky. It’s alone, it has no one to talk to. Sad star cries without tears and yells without sounds. But as time passes new stars are appearing. They calm the first star and wipe its non-existent tears. The star is no longer sad, it now can talk to the others without using words and play with them without moving or laughter. Because stars’ language is shining. The brighter it is the happier it is. They shine and twinkle all the night till dawn comes. Then they all smile and pass away. That’s a star's’ life. And the next night new stars are created. And everything happens again.” _

 

Sans shut the book. It may have simple drawings and looked like a book for children but… the story was sad. Definitely too sad for a bedtime story. But he was the only one who was thinking about it like that. Papyrus was snoring quietly and Hope was lying on Sans’ knees sleeping peacefully.

 

He carefully picked her up, stood up and carried her to his bed. He covered her with a blanket.

  
His little colorful star.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It takes me a lot of time to write a chapter, I know. But be patient and stay determined!  
> A little something for all the readers :) For your patience!  
> http://najti.deviantart.com/art/Warmth-608728140  
> I remind you, English is NOT my first language, let me know about any mistakes you notice! :)


	10. Lights, Tears and broken Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Festival of Lights was beautiful but someone made their move again...

This day was different. Sans woke up on the couch with a wide grin. He quickly went to the kitchen on order to make breakfast. He was so excited about this year’s festival but mostly because it was Hope’s first Festival of Lights. He had noticed she loved colors and stars.

 

During the festival there would be more colorful lights than she could imagine. That was also the biggest celebration in the whole Underground. Many monsters would come to Snowdin to see floating magic lights.

 

He prepared some rice but he used milk instead of water to make it even more sweet. Hope loved sweet food. Sans didn’t make anything for himself or for Papyrus. He just took a bottle of ketchup out of the fridge. Papyrus always liked to do everything by himself.

 

He went upstairs to wake her up. But when he was in a half of the way his phone rang.

 

“H-Hey, Sans” “Hey, Alphys, why are you calling so early?” “Don’t use the salve today, okay? I’m thinking about something else to help her burns heal. I’ll call you later.” “No prob, doc” “And have fun during the festival. After all those worries you need it. Both of you.” “Thanks, Alphys. See ya’ later, alligator!” “In a while, crocodile” she giggled and hanged up.

 

He opened the door and found little skeleton in her canine form chewing on one of the toys dogs gave her. Sans chuckled. She stopped instantly and approached him. She shifted and smiled at him.

 

“Today’s a big day. Your first Festival of Lights” he said and picked her up. He carried her to the kitchen and put on a chair. Papyrus was already there cooking some spaghetti. He looked frustrated about something. Maybe because Sans placed a plate with rice in front of Hope?

 

“Spaghetti is better than those strange white pellets” he said. But Hope was eating while smiling broadly so the skeleton didn’t say anything more. Sans chuckled. He sat down on a chair next to Hope and started drinking his ketchup.

 

When the breakfast was over, the family left the house. Snowdin was different. Everything glowing or colorful had been covered. Even the windows were covered with white sheets. The monsters wanted the spectator to focus on the lights not on the town. There were also some tourists sitting on benches and eating cinnamon buns. There would probably be many more of them in the evening.

 

They saw the kids running towards them. “Hey, Hope, wanna play?” asked Snowdrake. But something was not right. There were only three of them. “Where Monster Kid?” she asked. “He’s ill so he had to stay home” said Chilldrake. She nodded and looked at Sans. He smiled.

 

“We have a skele-ton of time.” he chuckled and shifted. Papyrus and Hope followed him. Skeletons started chasing children like they were kids again. They growled and roared with happiness. The fun had no end. They all were full of energy. But in the evening Snowdin became crowded and the children had to go back to their parents.

 

“Watch now. This will be a sight as beautiful as flowers” Sans said and took the family to the center of the city using teleportation. All monsters were staring at the ceiling waiting for something.

 

Suddenly one of the crystals started glowing strangely bright. Then the light died out but a yellow spark leaved the crystal. It started floating in the air, slowly falling. Some other crystals also started glowing and sparks in different colors leaved them. Soon the cave filled with hundreds of glowing sparks. It was night but Snowdin was brighter than during the day.

 

Papyrus smiled and Sans chuckled. It was the only festival which made Underground happier. It gave them hope and determination to life every year. No one knew why the crystals were acting like that but it didn’t matter.

 

The sparks were flying like birds or fireflies, the magic made them look like living creatures. Maybe Alphys knew the reason.

 

“The Underground can be beautiful, too. Don’t ya’ think?” Sans asked. But there was no answer. He looked at Hope but she wasn’t next to him. He looked around.

 

Hope was gone.

 

* * *

 

Little skeleton was staring at the lights above her with excitement. They were beautiful like flowers, some of them even looked like those. Then something different came in sight. A red butterfly made of light was floating near but the other monsters didn’t see it, they were staring at the lights above them.

 

Hope was curious. She approached the butterfly but it flew away. Not to far. She ran towards it but it escaped her hands. She started chasing it not knowing she’s getting closer to the edge of the town.

 

The butterfly waited for her but as soon as she got closer it hid behind the trees.

 

“Wait! Play!” she shouted at him and shifted to be faster. She ran after the butterfly. They were deep in the forest, she got out on a small area without trees. She looked at the butterfly floating in front of her. But it wasn’t a butterfly anymore. A boney hand with a hole in it was levitating instead. It was made of red magic Hope knew. She flinched. At the edge of her sight she saw something moving. Her soul started beating faster when she saw a tall man in a black coat approaching her. He had cracks in his skull. Hope took a few steps back still keeping her eyes on him. She knew him too well. She quickly turned to run but he was there too. He was standing in front of her with a smile.

 

“Subject 23, how did you escape the Lab?” he asked but he didn’t want a response. Suddenly a few red hands made of magic appeared around her. They caught her quickly and picked up. She was struggling and trying to bite the hands.

 

“Da!” she roared. But he was still in Snowdin and she was too far. There was no way he could hear her. But she kept calling for him, calling for her ‘da’.

 

“Subject 23, i’m not impressed with your behavior. Do you know what happens when a subject doesn’t listen to me, don’t you?” he said when she was close to him. He summoned another hand made of magic. One of her eye flickered when she saw it. Tears of fear started forming in her eyes as she struggled to escape him. But the hand was still in front of her face and his magic wasn’t letting her escape.

 

One of the fingers thrusted into her right eyesocket. She started screaming and shrieking when she felt his magic in her skull. It was a feeling of having her eye torn apart. More agonizing than anything she had felt before. Even more than the drill. More than the fire.

 

She couldn’t stand it, it was so painful she couldn’t even pass out. She felt something hot gathering in her mouth. It was painful too. But it was something she could stop.

 

She unleashed the energy but she didn’t even knew where she shot.

 

The hands suddenly disappeared and she fell on the ground. She quickly shifted into her bipedal form but couldn’t stand up. She heard the Doctor cursing and teleporting. But all she could see was darkness.

 

* * *

 

“Did you see a little girl in a pink jacket? She has a pink ribbon, too.” Sans asked one of the tourists. He also hadn’t seen her. Sans sighed but before he could ask another monster, his phone rang.

 

“Alphys, I don’t have time…” “Shut up and listen!” He flinched. It was Alphys’ voice but it wasn’t Alphys he knew. “Don’t stand there like that! Do something!” she yelled. “Alphys, what the hell it’s going on?!” “Sans! Woods! Hope! NOW!”

 

The cell phone fell on the ground. Skeleton shifted instantly and ran towards the forest. Blue fire was escaping his left eyesocket. He shouldn’t have let this happen, it was his fault. He knew that. If something happened to her he would never forgive himself.

 

Then a pink beam cut through the darkness causing him to stp. He looked it with fear. It was Hope’s magic. But her attacks were always wild and dangerous. This one hit the ceiling of the cave right above its source. Rocks started falling from it.

 

No.

 

He ran faster than ever. His laziness disappeared in a second. There was no way he could let the one who hurt her alive. He would pay for his deeds.

 

Sans reached the area without the trees but now it was covered with stones and parts of crystals from the ceiling. He saw something black in the edge of his eyesight but ignored it. Hope’s life was what mattered.

 

“Hope!” he yelled. The silence was strange and unnatural. Like the whole world suddenly stopped making any sounds. “HOPE!”

 

He felt something on his cheekbones. Tears.

 

He ran to the stones. He was looking for her for seconds which felt like years.

 

“...da…?”

 

He shifted and ran to the source of the voice. She was behind the rocks. He shifted and fell on his knees in front of her. Thank god, she…

 

His soul stopped beating and a wave of shock and fear fell on him like cold water.

 

Hope was there, lying on the ground. Her legs were  **_smashed_ ** into tiny bits of bones by a boulder. She was so weak she could hardly lift her head. But her eyesockets were empty. She was looking at him but she was looking _for_ him, too. Her eyes were dim and blind.

 

“...da…?” he could barely hear her. He crouched closer and put his hand on her head. “Dad is here… Dad… is here…” he whispered. She rested her head on the ground and a weak smile grew up on her face.

 

He felt her soul weakening. She took too much damage. Her ‘falling down’ was a matter of seconds.

 

Healing magic. Alphys told him he had healing powers.

 

He focused on her with all his will. It might not recover her eyes or legs but she would survive.

 

Tears covered his vision. He could only see some white, pink and gray in front of him.

 

“Healing powers… please… work…” he whispered and grabbed her left hand. It was cold.

 

Now, work… Healing, safety, warmth, green… something…

 

He shut his eyesockets. He just had to do this. It had to work. There was no way it didn’t.

 

He opened them. Hope was still lying there, on the edge of turning to dust.

 

His powers did  **_nothing_ ** .

 

“Dammit…” he cursed and clenched his teeth. He promised her so much…

 

Healing powers, please…

 

No response.

 

“...da…?” she said weakly. He looked at her.

 

“I’m… here…” he said not even trying to stop the tears. She smiled wider hearing his voice.

 

“...da…” she murmured.

 

Tears covered his vision. He couldn’t see anything.

  
He could only feel dust slipping through his fingers.


	11. Emptiness, Jar and Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans took Hope to the lab and left her there. Than he came back home, tried to be strong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Believe me or not but I was crying while writing the previous and this chapters.

Sans felt something strange. Sudden silence and emptiness. There was also a heartache so agonizing he thought his soul will shatter into thousand pieces in any second.

 

It should. Like the whole world. How could it just go on? How could the world act like nothing happened? How was it possible?

 

Everything should wither and disappear. Not just forget about her.

 

Sans slowly stood up. He looked at the clothes on the ground in front of him and felt another wave of pain in his soul.

 

_ “...da…?” _

 

He clenched his teeth and lifted his left hand. Blue magic covered all the dust on the snow and took it from under the clothes and boulders. He ignored another painful stab in his soul. It was like a knife, cold and agonizing.

 

He picked up the pink jacket from the ground and the dust rested on it. He ensured himself he hadn’t left anything, than turned and walked away.

 

He felt like it took centuries for him to get out of the woods but it took only about twenty minutes. And all this time he had Hope’s smiling face and laughter in his mind. Tears were falling from his eyesockets but he prevented them to fall on the dust.

 

As soon as he got out of the forest the other monsters looked at him. They all had seen the pink beam. But the jacket in his arms with dust on it was more than an answer.

 

He didn't stop. The monsters just got out of his was. They all knew him and that was the first time they saw his punny friend crying.

 

Sans just headed to their home. He didn’t care about what was happening around him.

 

“SANS!” someone put their hand on his shoulder. “WHERE IS-”

 

“Here... “he whispered in response and kept walking. Papyrus flinched. He had nothing to say on this situation. The monsters watched the skeleton holding the pink jacket with understanding in their eyes. Some of them even wanted to say something. But he wasn’t listening. They understood it too.

 

He couldn’t go to their house. They had no special jar for dust. They had never thought this would happen. He changed his destination and started heading to the Riverman.

 

He sat down in the boat. The riverman hummed his melody and the boat got away from the land. This was the first time Sans was angry for them for doing that.

 

“Stop it” he said . He clenched his teeth and looked at the dust on the jacket.

 

“Tra la la~! Why should I~?” they hummed. “How can you be happy… when she’s dead…” Sans whispered and more tears began to fall from his eyesockets.

 

“Tra la la~! Because no one’s happy with sorrows~! Especially little child souls~!” they hummed. Skeleton knew they were right. But he couldn’t stop the heartache, the cold blade stabbing his soul all the time.

 

They entered the Waterfall. Sans just shut his eyesockets not wanting to see any of the crystals they had named. But when he’s eyes were closed he saw Hope smiling in front of him. She was pointing at something. She looked so real, so happy, so full of life…

 

But he felt the jacket in his arms. And more tears fell from his eyesockets.

 

“Tra la la~! We’re in Hot Land~!” the riverman hummed.

 

“Shut up” Sans murmured and got out of the boat. Someone was waiting for him.

 

Alphys stood a few steps from him, her eyes full of tears. She had seen him on her screen. She didn’t say anything, just turned around and headed back to the lab. Sans followed her.

 

They reached the huge white building. Alphys whispered something like “Stay here” and entered the elevator. Sans was left alone in the giant white room.

 

He sat down on a chair by Alphys desk and carefully hugged the jacket. He covered the dust with his magic so it wouldn’t fall on the floor.

 

Dust wasn’t warm. It was cold like snow and looked a little like sugar but in a light silver shade. Sans sobbed quietly “What were you... doing... in the forest…? Please… Tell me…” he whispered. His voice was broken by cries.

 

“Someone lured her there” he heard an answer. He lifted his eyes from the jacket. Undyne was standing there in her armor. She had a blue spear in her hand and an understanding look. “Alphys used her cameras to watch the Festival of Lights. Than she saw Hope chasing a butterfly made of magic.” Sans flinched when he heard her name. He would never be able to call her again.

 

“Who…?” he said. Suddenly all his pain and sorrow was replaced with anger and rage. He wanted to find the one who  **_killed_ ** his little child.

 

“You know” she said. Blue blaze woke up in his left eye. The Doctor, it was obvious. He clenched his teeth and murmured some curses and looked again at the dust. Undyne put her hand on his shoulder.

 

“The Royal Guard won’t rest. We’ll find him. I promise” she said quietly.

 

The elevator door opened and Alphys entered the room with a glass jar in her hands. It was a special jar for dust, it was unbreakable. Fallen monsters deserve respect and safety.

 

“I chose a pink cap…” lizard whispered and opened the jar. Sans slowly lifted the dust with his magic. His hand was shaking and new tears formed in his eyesockets. The sights of jar filled with her dust was too much for him. He clenched his teeth trying to hide a sudden pain in his soul.

 

“Do you want to keep her or let her rest here…?” asked Alphys. She saw how much pain this sight caused to him. He didn’t answer.

 

“I’ll take him back to Snowdin” said Undyne. Sans didn’t say anything. He just let her grab his sleeve.

 

He wasn’t paying attention to anything happening around him. He heard riverman’s melody, then the sound of rushing water. But his mind was empty. His emotions were fighting, he didn’t know if he was furious or sad. Or both.

 

He snapped out of trance when Undyne kicked him causing him to fall on the snow.

 

“Don’t be a zombie, loser!” she growled and threw his cell phone to him. The one he had lost just before the run through the forest.

 

He slowly picked it and stood up. He was right in front of his house.

 

Sans let out a sigh and entered it. The first thing he saw was Papyrus sitting on the couch.

 

_ “Dande-lions!” _

 

Skeleton clenched his teeth and approached his brother. Papyrus saw him first. “S-SANS...?” his whole body was shaking “IS… IS IT TRUE?” his voice was so quiet Sans could barely hear it. Shorter skeleton nodded in silence.

 

“BUT… HOW… WHO… WHY…” he sobbed. Sans sat down next to him and hugged him. It was a shock to them both. He should be strong for Papyrus. Even if he couldn’t be strong for himself.

 

“The Doctor… She tried to protect herself… Have you seen that beam?” Papyrus nodded “That was H- her attack. But the rocks fell on her.” he said. Don’t use the name. It would only make things worse.

 

“S-SANS...?”

 

“Y-yeah?”

 

“HOPE WOULDN’T... WANT TO SEE... YOU... CRYING...” Sans flinched. The pictures of little skeleton with sadness in her eyes attacked his mind. He felt tears on his cheekbones.

 

“I… I know...“ he murmured. “But… I… I promised…” his voice broke and he shut his eyes. The broken promise. He said he would show her the flowers on the surface.

 

Papyrus wrapped his arms around his shorter brother. He didn’t need to say anything. They were just sitting here hugging each other.

 

_ “Da?” _

 

Sans slowly got out of the hug. He wiped tears from his eyes. “It’s… It’s late… Let’s go to sleep…” he said. He even managed to stop crying. A weak smile grew up on his face. “Tomorrow… Tomorrow is another day…” Papyrus stood up. He forced a smile too. They both said ‘goodnight’ and went to their rooms.

 

Sans shut the door behind him and found himself alone in his own room. The kennel and the dog bed were still there. Dog toys scattered on the floor…

 

He fell on his bed and buried himself under the blanket. He hid his head under the pillow and cried but his voice was muffled by it.

 

He felt a sweet scent of flowers.

 

* * *

 

_ “ Da?” _

 

_ “What’s up, Hope?” _

 

_ “Where we?” _

 

_ He looked around. They had been sitting on an endless field of flowers. There were so many colors and kinds he would never be able to count them. Bright blue sky above them. No clouds. There was a gentle breeze but no sounds nor insects. They were alone. _

 

_ “We are on the surface.” _

 

_ “...Da?” _

 

_ “What’s up?” _

 

_ “Why we not there?” _

 

_ He looked at her. They hadn’t been sitting on the grass but on cold stone. There were dead flowers covering the ground around them. Sky was replaced with cave’s ceiling. Sans clenched his teeth. _

 

_ “Because I failed to take you there…” he shut his eyes and felt tears on his cheekbones. But then someone wiped them. _

 

_ “No matter. Da. Love.” she hugged him. _

  
_ “Love you too, Hope…” _


	12. Secrets and Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys finally told the cruel truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote two chapters today, you'll get the 13th tomorrow... I need a new soul, my last one's broken...

Sans woke up and yawned. Crystals’ light was filling the room. It was almost afternoon.

 

“Hey, H-” he clenched his teeth. Oh, right, she had been  **_killed_ ** by the Doctor.

 

He wanted to lie there in his bed and forget about the world around him. There was no sense in getting up if he couldn’t see her waiting for him. He would probably lie there more but then his cell phone reminded about itself. Sans took it out of his pocket suddenly hating this sound.

 

“S-Sans?”

 

“...”

 

“I know… I know it’s hard for you… but… I need you now in the lab… there are some things I should have told you earlier…”

 

“...”

 

“Sans…?”

 

“...”

 

“Come here… as soon as you can… Okay…?”

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“Hope wouldn’t want to see you dead inside”

 

Before he could answer she hanged up. He suddenly felt so tiny and lonely… or rather  _ bonely _ .

 

He chuckled but it wasn’t happy. He got out of the bed and left his room not looking at the toys scattered on the ground or the kennel or the dog bed.

 

Papyrus was waiting for him downstairs with a plate of spaghetti. But this time it was different. Each plate had a smile made of meatballs. But there wasn’t a third plate of spaghetti sprinkled with sugar.

 

Sans clenched his teeth. He knew Papyrus was trying to cheer him up somehow. “I’m going to Alphys” he said “I’m not hungry” he added before Papyrus could say anything.

 

When he was outside he realized he should have stayed at home. Papyrus needed support.

 

He shook his head and went to the riverman. He whispered “Hot Land” as soon as he entered the boat.

 

“Tra la la~! Wanna bring her back to life~?” the riverman said. Sans murmured something which sounded like curses but didn’t answer. If it was possible he would bring her back to this world again but…

 

But she was gone. And monster souls persist only a few moments after ‘falling down’.

 

Hope’s soul was only a memory.

 

“Tra la la~! You are so sad~! But would she be happy with that~?” they hummed.

 

“Say something about her again and I’ll slash your throat” Sans growled. The riverman made a sound similar to laughter.

 

“Tra la la~! I don’t have one~! But we’re in Hot Land~! Bye~!” they hummed again. Sans looked really annoyed but remained silent. He just got out of the boat and headed to the lab.

 

* * *

 

Something was wrong. He saw Alphys’ expression and knew that. She was hiding something.

 

“Sans… Just… Stay calm…” she whispered. They entered the elevator and Alphys pressed a button labeled as “-1”. Then they went to one of the operation rooms.

 

Monster Kid was lying on a steel table in the middle of the room. A tall green female lizard without arms was standing near him, probably his mother. She had tears in her eyes.

 

“Why didn’t you told me Hope scratched him?” Alphys said to Sans accusingly. He was too confused to answer. He just approached little kid on the table. Kid’s mother flinched but did nothing more.

 

Monster Kid had a really bad fever and was unconscious. His breaths were fast.

 

“I’ve just given him some medicine. Just like to Undyne.” Alphys explained. “But answer me”

 

“Why is it so important?! It’s not-”

 

“It **IS** Hope’s fault” the scientist said firmly.

 

He wanted to shift and ran to her and break her bones and hurt her and make her HP reach 0… Just because she said something bad about the little skeleton. Alphys saw his face and realized she was playing with fire.

 

“How. Dare. You” he said. In one second he was in front of her. She tried to look brave but she had already begun to sweat.

 

“It’s… It’s… I’ll tell you… Follow me” she said and her mask of bravery disappeared. She ran out of the room. Sans shifted and ran after her.

 

Z sight of a skeleton monster chasing you isn’t the prettiest sight on the Earth. Alphys tried to look behind her but it didn’t help her. She hit the wall next to the elevator. Sans teleported between her and the exit.

 

“Explain. Now” he growled and shifted back. She took a deep breath.

 

“Hope was a living weapon. That’s why the Doctor wanted her so badly. One accidental scratch could cause serious damage or death. Monster Kid is fighting for his life now. Undyne visited me right after your visit. Her soul was in a terrible shape. I managed to make an antidote from the powder from her burns.”

 

“...”

 

“You have to understand this, Sans.”

 

“...” he understood even if he didn’t want to.

 

“She was dangerous...”

 

“...”

 

“If she was alive the whole underground would be put at risk…”

 

“...”

 

“Sans, she-”

 

“But she’s  **DEAD** now!”

 

Alphys gasped when he fell on his knees. She didn’t want to get any closer to him but she wanted to cheer him up somehow. She slowly put her hand on his head. He shivered but didn’t say anything.

 

“Sans… I wanted to hide it from you but… I know I shouldn’t… But… please, don’t be mad…” she whispered. He lifted his eyes and looked at her. He had tears on his cheekbones.

 

“I knew about it… about her soul-destroying power… from the beginning… and.. I started working on something like a poison… to kill it at the source…”

 

Silence. Sans was thinking about what she said. Then he finally realized she was telling him she had tried to… To create something to kill Hope.

 

Alphys had wanted to  **kill** his child.

 

Blue flames were raging in his left eyesocket. He also felt something hot in his hands. He looked at them and saw two blue fireballs.

 

One second and Alphys would turn into dust. She looked scared almost to death.

 

“I… I’m sorry…” she whispered. “I wanted to protect… to do something good to the Underground…”

 

“So should I be happy?” he growled. “Should I be happy because an innocent kid  **died** ? Should I be happy because someone  **killed my daughter** ?” he looked at her. He was furious. “And one of my best friends has just told me she wanted her  **dead** .” he stood up.

 

“One more thing before I leave. Why did you lie to me? About the healing powers I mean? I don’t have them. If I had, Hope would be still breathing and laughing and  **alive** ” he dismissed the fireballs and looked at the frightened lizard.

 

She sighed. “You have them. I’m sure. But when Hope was ‘falling down’ you were too nervous, filled with pain and sadness. To use those powers you need to have clear mind.”

 

He didn’t say anything. He just went past her and left the lab.

 

Undyne was there. She was sitting by Alphys’ desk.

 

“Hot Land sucks. I really hate coming here.” she said. Sans just looked at her. Nothing more. He headed to the riverman’s boat.

 

“Just want to tell you the Royal Guard is still looking for him. Alphys’ cameras recorded the Doctor. We’re only a step from finding him. If Hope was there, we would find him soon but…” she saw Sans’ look. He looked ready to shift and run… or summon some bones and attack her.

 

“I know this feeling sucks… when you loose someone who's really close to you… But it doesn’t mean you have to become someone who frightens his own friends” she said. He murmured something. She went closer. “I’m not telling you to forget about her… but to make her smile wherever she is now.” she whispered.

 

He didn’t answer.

 

“Wanna train a little, you weakling?” she asked. Sans chuckled and rubbed the back of his skull.

 

“Maybe… Maybe later, okay?” he said quietly and went to the riverman. Undyne nodded and waved to him. The boat slowly entered the Waterfall.

 

He didn’t feel better at all.

 

It was pretty dark when he arrived to Snowdin. The visit to the lab took him more time than he thought. He wanted to go back home but someone was waiting for him on the way to the house.

 

The fire elemental stood there with a paper bag in his hand. Sans forced a smile. “Hey, dad…” he said and flinched feeling another cold stab in his soul.

 

Grillby just wrapped his arms around him. “I don’t know what I would do if you or Papyrus was gone…” he whispered. Sans hugged his father, fresh tears began to fall from his eyesockets. Soon Sans got out of the hug and they both went to the house. Sans was about to enter the house but Grillby stopped him and gave him the paper bag he was holding. Than he went back to the bar.

 

Sans opened the door and went inside. Papyrus was sleeping on the couch while TV was on. There was a comedy on the screen. Sans just turned it off and went upstairs. To his room.

 

The kennel, the dog bed and the toys. They all were gone. Papyrus had probably called the dogs to take them back.

 

Sans sighed. He felt even more lonely than before. He sat down on his bed and opened the bag from Grillby.

 

There was a burger there, a small bottle of ketchup and a sugarcube.

 

Skeleton stared at the sugar for a minute but then he just put it back. He hadn’t eaten anything since the previous day so he was really hungry. Food quickly disappeared from the packet. Only the sugarcube remained here.

 

He carefully put the packet on the floor and lied down on his bed. “Tomorrow is another day… another day without you” he whispered to the darkness in his room and shut his eyes.

 

His pillow still smelled like flowers.

 

* * *

 

_ “Da!” she cried when she ran to him. He quickly hugged her. _

 

_ “What’s wrong, sweetie?” he asked. They were on the endless field of flowers again. _

 

_ “Da… Help…” she whispered. He was going to ask what happened when she disappeared from his arms. Sans looked around and saw someone tall in a black coat a few steps from him. The Doctor just stood there. Hope was struggling while his magic hands were holding her. _

 

_ “Da…!” she screamed. Then the Doctor snapped his fingers and the surface was replaced with a dark cave full of dead flowers. _

 

_ Sans could do  _ **_nothing_ ** _. _

 

_ The Doctor grinned broadly and looked at Hope. She looked at Sans with fear and hope in her big eyelights. She believed in him. He just had to help her. _

 

_ But before he could move magic hands just  _ **_crushed_ ** _ her bones into dust. Than they threw that what was left from her on the ground. Even if her dust and clothes were lying on the cold stone, the sound of breaking bones was still there, echoing through the cave. _

 

_ Sans looked at his kid, no longer warm and smiling but cold and  _ **_dead_ ** _. _

  
_ Doctor just disappeared in darkness. _


	13. Magic, Determination and the Killer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans couldn't stand doing nothing.

Sans woke up from the nightmare and sat up on his bed.

 

He couldn’t help her. That thought was still stabbing his soul. He looked through the window and saw dar cave’s ceiling. It was still night. But Sans didn’t want to sleep anymore. He wanted to do something, not just sit in his house while the Doctor was still alive. He stood up and opened the window. The air was cold but he didn’t mind that.

 

Then he knew what he should do.

 

He shifted and jumped through the window. He landed safely in a snow but he didn’t want to waste any more time on doing nothing. He got out of the snow and ran into the forest. He knew the way too good.

 

The ceiling was unstable in this place, it could fall in any second and bury any monster standing there. But he didn’t think about it.

 

He reached the area without trees now covered with rocks and crystals from the ceiling. He didn’t look at the place Hope was lying during her fall. He began to sniff the air.

 

The Royal Guard couldn’t smell magic. He should have thought about it earlier. There was no way the Royal Guard could find the Doctor.

 

There were many smells there. Smell of fresh snow, smell of trees… but those are normal. He was looking for the other ones.

 

Smell of fear, hope and pain. And death. Those were Hope’s feelings. He clenched his teeth but didn’t stop. He focused on a little scrap of Doctor’s magic he knew from his childhood.

 

Hate, anger, a desire to cause pain… Doctor. He found him.

 

He followed this smell. It became stronger. He found the place the Doctor had been standing.

 

He ran into the forest following the smell. He was fast as light, he had determination to **kill** the Doctor. And nothing could stop him. He would rip his soul apart and throw his dust into the core. If he had a soul. He was too cruel for a monster or human.

 

It was freezing cold but his rage’s fire was burning inside him. And the memory about Hope kept him determined. He didn’t give up even when he found a dead end. He was looking for another trail of smell until he found it.

 

The smell led him to the Waterfall and through seaweed forests. He almost lost it because there were many other smells of magic there. But the smell of crualty was stronger.

 

He knew crystals were shining brightly and night had already passed. Papyrus was probably worried. But if Sans came back now, he would never find this smell again.

 

He got past Undyne’s house and many dark tunnels. He was getting closer to the end of the Waterfall. The smell there was almost gone.

 

Than something crushed under his paw. He thought it was a branch but how it could get to the Waterfall… He looked on the ground and saw a little pink crystal shattered into many shining shards. He looked up and saw the blue crystal Hope once found. The pink one on the ground was the second one. She had called them “Me and Da”. But the pink crystal had fallen from the ceiling.

 

Tears began to form in his eyesockets. He lifted his shaking paw and blue magic covered the remainings of the crystal. They levitated behind him as he walked. Than he threw them to the nearest lake.

 

He continued to hunt the Doctor.

 

Sans left the Waterfall and reached the Hot Land. The Doctor had to be somewhere there, he just had to…

 

He sneaked near the lab now wanting Alphys to notice him. But she probably saw him on her screen. She always saw everything. The smell of pain and sorrow was really strong there. He was near the Lab. Even after years it still smelled the same.

 

Sans went straight to an elevator leading to the CORE. He had a strange feeling he should get out of there as soon as he could. He had gone to the CORE many times but never in the beast form.

 

Elevator door shut behind him and the elevator moved. His instinct yelled he should run away at an instant. But his determination told him he couldn’t give up.

 

The elevator stopped and he got out. He was on the top of the CORE… but he pressed the button labeled as “entrance”... Something was definitely not right. There were many wires, machines and gears. Puddles of strange orange liquid were scattered on the floor.

 

There were a few dark metal doors leading to other rooms. Sans slowly approached the first one. Locked. He checked the other ones. Locked. They had labels written in a strange language but Sans remembered where he had seen this language. In the Lab.

 

Than he heard a door creaking. One of the doors opened. He slowly went inside.

 

A smell of death hit him like a brick while the whines attacked him with full force. He was in a corridor with many doors with bars instead of windows in them. They were too highly placed for him so he had to shift to look through them.

 

His soul started beating faster and he felt like someone threw him into cold water.

 

Inside were two blaster beasts with metal collars crying. One of them had a crack on the top of his skull while another one’s legs were broken and only natural skeleton magic kept them in shape. They saw him. Skeleton with a crack ran to the corner of the room and curled up there while the monster with broken legs tried to crawl away from the door.

 

“It’s okay… It’s okay… I want to help” he growled in the blaster beast language. They looked at him with disbelief. Sans peeked to the other rooms. All the doors in the corridor led to small rooms with two or three monsters in each. He counted about fifty little skeleton creatures.

 

He found the new Lab.

 

He came back to the main room looking for keys or a button unlocking the doors to monsters’ cages. But all he found was another door opened so he entered it.

 

This room was strange. It was giant and had a huge hole in the middle of it. Sans looked into it but couldn’t see the end. It was too deep.

 

Than he heard a voice behind him which sent chills down his spine.

 

“Welcome home, _Subject 01_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love cliffhangers.


	14. Beast of Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans tried to fight with the Doctor.

Sans turned around quickly. He was standing there. The Doctor. One crack from his right eye to the top of his skull and the second one from his left eye to the corner of his mouth. It was him without any doubt. His black coat looked more like a mist than cloth.

 

Before Sans could do anything he was thrown over the hole and hit the wall. A wave of pain attacked his back as it hit the steel. He murmured some curses and slowly stood up. The Doctor was standing there with the same smile as always.

 

Sans quickly took his cell phone out of his pocket. He called for help.

 

“Alphys! The CORE! Fast!” he shouted. The Doctor began to get closer to him.

 

“S-Sans…? But what’s-”

 

“I’m sorry, okay?! I’m sorry! But I need YOU! I’m at the-”

 

Suddenly his cell phone exploded with red fire. Sans hissed as the magic burnt his bone.

 

“Subject 01, I don’t think we need guests” said the Doctor. Sans wanted to take a step back but there was a steel wall behind him. He quickly ran away wanting to reach the door and **get the hell out of this place**.

 

He felt something grabbing him and throwing him into the air. He hit the ceiling than the floor. Something cracked.

 

Sans clenched his teeth in pain and looked at the Doctor. He lifted his hand, he wanted to turn his soul blue and make him pinned to the floor. But nothing happened.

 

The Doctor had no soul.

 

The Doctor noticed Sans’s shocked expression and made a sound similar to laughter.

 

“Subject 01, is something wrong?” he asked and threw him on the wall. “It’s a real shame that Subject 23 removed itself from this world. It had a great potential.”

 

Sans stood up. A fire of rage and fury woke up in him.

 

“Don’t you dare talk about her like she was a damn animal!” he growled and summoned a ring of bones to attack the Doctor.

 

“Oh, right, Subject 23 was a monster. It was born, it lived and it died. Wait, I made a mistake. Do you mind correcting it for me?” he said. He raised his left hand and an orange barrier surrounded him and protected him from bones.

 

Sans didn’t answer. He just kept attacking the Doctor with bones. Which did nothing.

 

“No? Well. Subject 23 was’t a monster and wasn’t born. It was created by me. Just like you. It makes us a family.” he said. His barrier suddenly changed its color into yellow, then into red. A large beast skull looking like a blaster beast's head appeared behind him. Sans realized what was going on and quickly summoned a wall of bones in front of him.

 

The skull opened its jaws and shot a dark read beam. It broke Sans’s bones like they were nothing more but sticks. Than it hit Sans.

 

Or rather it looked like it hit him. He managed to teleport out of there in the last moment.

 

“Impressive” the Doctor said. “I think I’ll try to apply your powers and Subject 23’s strength to Subject 62. It would become an unstoppable killer.” he said and snapped his fingers. Another blaster beasts’ skulls began to appear in the room.

 

Sans ran to avoid the beams.

 

“This is YOUR fault!” Sans shouted and summoned another bones. He should shift, he would be stronger in his canine form… but he had a feeling it would only make things worse.

 

“My? No, Subject 01. It’s _her_ fault.” the Doctor said. Suddenly his magic turned white. His attacks became faster forcing Sans to teleport around the room to avoid them. “It is all Subject 23’s fault. If it hadn’t tried to shoot me, it would be still existing.”

 

Sans’ attacks did nothing to him. They were too weak. He should have spent more time on improving his bones.

 

He tried to summon blue flames. Small fireballs appeared in his hands. He looked at the Doctor with rage.

 

“If you didn’t attack him, she would be still **alive** ” he growled and threw the fireballs at the Doctor. This forced him to dodge. Sans knew how to hurt him. This mattered.

 

“Oh, don’t you understand, Subject 01? Don’t you know about her destructive power? She was able to kill by only looking at someone and changing her victim’s soul. Her powers kill in seconds. She was too valuable. But her eyes made her dangerous to everyone.” he grinned. Sans felt fear falling on him like cold water. “You can’t change soul’s color if you can’t see it, don’tcha?” the Doctor said.

 

Sans realized now why Hope had been blind during her fall. It all was Doctor’s fault. She couldn’t have seen him in her last moments because of the Doctor!

 

“You’re gonna have a really bad time for what you’ve done” Sans growled. He started throwing fireballs at him in a rapid speed. The Doctor smiled while dodging them.

 

Suddenly the other sound cut through the air. Someone hit the steel door.

 

“Sans?! What the heck happened?!” that was Undyne. She kept hitting the door.

 

“How did you get there?!” Alphys shouted.

 

There were also some other voices but the words couldn’t be heard because of the noise Undyne was making.

 

They all were there. Sans smiled and looked at the Doctor. He was grinning too. Skeleton immediately realised why.

 

The Doctor had the power to kill them all. Only Sans could teleport.

 

He quickly dodged another beam and summoned a wall of bones to seal the door. They covered the steel making it impossible to enter the room. Undyne was shouting some curses.

 

Sans looked at his opponent again. “Actually, maybe I could force Subject 23 to live again... “ the Doctor said. Sans flinched. Than he felt a grip of magic on his body and was thrown on a wall. His bones were damaged and could break in any while.

 

“Bringing it back would be much faster and less expensive” he said. Sans shot a fireball and dodged the next attack. He was already exhausted while the Doctor was in full health.

 

“You liar.” he growled. “Her soul shattered a long time ago!” another cold stab in his soul made him stop for a second. He was thrown across the room again and almost fell into the hole. Every time he thought about Hope a wave of pain attacked his mind and soul.

 

“Monster souls shatter into soul dust which mixes with dust from the body during falling down.” The Doctor explained. Sans was thrown on the wall again. He heard something cracking and felt a sudden pain coming from one of his ribs. It was probably badly broken. He used his magic to strengthen magic keeping it on its place. He slowly got up. He was even to tired to throw fireballs. But dodging wouldn’t win this battle.

 

“But you **aren’t** monsters” the Doctor hissed.

 

Sans looked at him, suddenly his rage and will to fight disappeared. They were replaced with hope and disbelief. Tears began to form in his eyesockets. The Doctor stopped his assault.

 

“You… you’re saying…” Sans whispered. The Doctor lowered his shield and approached the skeleton. He was smiling. An orange hand made of magic landed on Sans’ shoulder.

 

“Yes, that’s right, Subject 01. That’s one of the human soul’s features I managed to apply to my creations’ souls. They persist for a long time after fall. Not forever but long enough.” The Doctor knew about the souls more than anyone else. He slowly raised his real hand with a hole inside to touch Sans.

 

Than suddenly the steel door exploded. The bones shattered into bits and fell on the floor. Undyne ran into the room with Papyrus, Grillby and Alphys following her. She quickly summoned a spear and threw it.

 

The Doctor clenched his teeth when his real hand fell in the ground. It shook a little and melted into a puddle of black goo.

 

“Don’t listen to whatever he says, Sans!” shouted Undyne when she saw his look. “He’s dangerous and it was **him** who **KILLED HOPE**!” Those words snapped him out of trance. He quickly took a step back and determination to make the Doctor pay for his deeds returned.

 

His body began to transform in fury and rage. A blaze woke up in his left eyesocket but it wasn’t only blue. There were flames in other colors too. Blue, yellow, purple, silver, red… and pink. His fingers sharpened so they looked more like claws. His head changed into a blaster beast’s one and his whole body grew so he was as tall as Papyrus was. His tail appeared, long and thin like a whip.

 

The sound of cloth being torn apart cut through the room. A pair of bony wings were growing from his back. His left one was covered in blue flames which looked like feathers.

 

Changed Sans looked at the Doctor who put a shield between them.

  
“ **You dirty children killer.** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the confused ones:  
> Yes, Sans has only 1 HP. He didn't die, because the Doctor was damaging his body, not his soul. Only attacks can damage a soul not just throwing someone on a wall.  
> I'll tell this to you now: Sans won't stay in this form forever. Things happening in my work happen before the game.  
> And try to guess which color means what :)  
> I love reading your comments! ^^


	15. Reversed Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans fought with the Doctor.

Even the Doctor was scared. His magic changed its color from white to dark purple. But it didn’t matter.

 

Sans summoned a ring of bones and ran to the shield. He scratched it with his claws and the bones made large cracks on it. The shield broke and the Doctor had to put another barrier between them.

 

He stopped attacking and wasn’t smiling anymore.

 

The flash of light in front of him blinded him for a second but he knew what it meant. He quickly turned around and created a shield in last second. Two fireballs hit it and made huge cracks on it. Sans scratched it with his claws causing multicolored sparks to fall from it.

 

“You want her back so badly?” the Doctor tried to keep his mask of bravery and confidence. A loud roar was an answer. He tried to strengthen his shield or put a new one.

 

A few bones hit the barrier and Sans ripped it apart with his claws. The Doctor grabbed him with his magic but before he could throw the beast on the wall, Sans threw a few fireballs. The Doctor had to focus on dodging.

 

“Her soul is still somewhere.” the Doctor summoned a few skulls to shoot beams at Sans. But before they unleashed the light in their jaws, the beast used his wings to fly up and then he used his own beam to destroy Doctor’s weapons.

 

The Doctor was the one who had no chance this time.

 

Sans landed on the floor and rushed at the confused Doctor. He began to teleport and throw blows at complete random so the Doctor could barely avoid being hit.

 

Finally he managed to escape the beast trying to kill him and put a barrier around him. But then he realised he was really close to the giant hole in the floor in the middle of the room.

 

“I’m not as  **stupid** as you think I am” Sans growled. “I can learn new tricks” he added and lifted his left hand. A fireball in the same colors as the blaze in his left eyesocket appeared on his hand.

 

Something also appeared above him. A giant blaster beast’s skull.

 

“For Hope. And for hope” Sans whispered and clenched his left fist causing the blaze to shatter into thousands of glass shards. The skull above him opened its jaws and light started to gather in it in a form of a ball. There were only two colors. Silver and pink.

 

Sans felt a small hand on his shoulder. A hand with only a thumb. But the feeling disappeared in a second.

 

“Get dunked on” he said just before the skull shot.

 

The Doctor focused on his barrier. But when he saw giant cracks on it growing larger and larger as seconds passed he accidentally made a step back.

 

He didn’t make any sound when he was falling.

 

Sans just approached the edge of the hole and watched him falling. Blazes on his left wing and in his left eyesocket died out. His skull slowly transformed back into its normal shape just like his fingers. His tail and wings just turned to dust and fell on the ground.

 

His friends watched the whole battle. But they didn’t say anything.

 

“Alphys?” they heard his voice.

 

“Y-Yeah?” she slowly answered. The rest of them looked ready like Sans was going to attack them too. They were afraid of him.

 

“Is it true?” he said. He wasn’t even facing them, he was still staring at the hole. “The part about her soul. Is it true?”

 

Alphys rubbed the spikes on her head. “Actually… It can be true… since your souls were designed to be able to break or cross the barrier…” she said. She watched him slowly nodding.

 

“So… Is it possible to bring her back?” he asked. Alphys shivered.

 

“I think I still may have some Determination extracted from human souls… But… But Sans…” she tried to tell him what could happen but she bit her tongue.

 

“Do it.”

 

“W-What?!”

  
“Bring her back.  **Please** .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You won! Your LOVE increased! But... Your DEF and ATK remained unchanged."
> 
> We all know the True Lab, don't we?


	16. Soon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans passed out and Grillby takes him back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a short chapter but I'll post another one tomorrow, I promise!

“I beg you Alphys… Please, bring… her… back…” his voice changed into a whisper. Sans’ eyes slowly closed and the skeleton almost fell on the floor. Undyne was ready to catch him but Papyrus was faster.

 

“He’s just tired” Undyne said when she saw Papyrus’ panicked look. He sighed with relief and slowly picked his older brother up. Sans’ breath was normal, he was just sleeping.

 

“T-Take him back home… and I… I’ll prepare everything” Alphys said. The rest of the monsters left the room. The yellow lizard stayed there for a few seconds more before she went out too.

 

“Papyrus, I need you here. You’re one of them, they won’t be scared of you and we can’t leave them in those cages. Grillby will take him back home.” Undyne said. Papyrus slowly nodded and his father took the sleeping skeleton. Than he shifted and went with Undyne to the corridor with cages.

 

Alphys and Grillby went to the elevator. The scientist went to her lab murmuring something he couldn’t hear. Grillby entered the boat with Sans in his arms.

 

“Tra la la~! He won’t be happy with that~!” the riverman said. Grillby didn’t ask about what they said. He waited patiently until they reached Snowdin. Then he went straight to the skelebros’ house.

 

He put Sans on the couch and went to the kitchen. He was surely hungry after all the fight. Grillby checked all cupboards but he found only an infinite amount of boxes with pasta. But then he found something else hidden deep behind the boxes…

 

* * *

 

Sans slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Where was he? He was fighting with the Doctor a few seconds before… But then happened something he couldn’t explain. He couldn’t explain what happened to him or what he had done. The only thing he remembered was Doctor’s words. About Hope’s soul.

 

He still felt cold stabs in his soul when he was thinking about her. He should be more careful with that, it might end with a soulattack.

 

He heard something from the kitchen and tried to stand up but his whole body was aching. Too much movement in a short period of time. He hissed and lied down again.

 

Grillby went out of the kitchen with something in his hands.

 

“You’re finally awake.” he said and Sans sat up on the couch. “Everything okay now?”

 

“Yeah, I think so… But _tibia_ honest I feel like a giant truck hit me” he said and looked at the thing his dad was holding. His eyesockets widened with disbelief and tears began to form in them.

 

Grillby put a plate full of rice on the table in front of him and sat down next to the skeleton. Sans was just looking at the food as tears were falling from his eyes. The elemental knew but didn’t say anything.

 

The silence was strange.

 

“Where are the others?” Sans finally said. He looked at his dad so he didn’t have to look at the rice.

 

“Papyrus and Undyne called me an hour ago. All of the little skeletons are still in the Lab but there aren’t stressed anymore. Undyne also caught the Doctor’s assistants but they appeared to be normal monsters. The Doctor had been using his magic to take control of them. They are now in their homes.” he said. “Alphys is in her lab and waits for us.”

 

“Waits? Why?” Sans asked.

 

“You begged her to revive Hope.”

 

Sans felt like another giant truck hit him. That was right. He quickly stood up ignoring his whole body screaming in pain.

 

“Sit down, we aren’t in a hurry…”

 

“Yes, we are” Sans said and looked at Grillby with hope in his eyes. “I want to see her as soon as possible.”

 

They were silent for a few more seconds. Than Grillby just stood up and went to the door. Sans followed him ignoring the sudden pain in his ribcage. But his father saw the pain in his eyelights.

 

“You sure you can walk?” he asked. Sans just nodded.

 

“I’ll take a bottle of ketchup and I’ll be fine” he said and went to the kitchen. He clenched his teeth and took a bottle from the fridge. Ketchup wasn’t good for broken bones but it could at least make him less tired and ease some pain.

 

“Alphys will look at your ribs when we arrive” Grillby said when he saw Sans leaving the kitchen. But the skeleton realized something else. His jacket was torn and wasn’t wearable anymore. He just took it off and took one of the spare ones from the hatstand. It was orange, not so comfortable and too big but he had nothing against wearing it for a while.

 

They went out and headed to the riverman. They were silent this time, no hums or words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much kudos... I can't believe, you really like my work! ^^  
> I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to finish it without your comments and kudos! They give me determination! ^^


	17. Deep and Unspoken Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans had a chat with Undyne and Alphys led him to her True Lab.

When they finally got to the lab, Sans was breathing heavily. The pain coming from his broken rib was like claws tearing his mind apart and throwing the pieces of it into a fire. Grillby helped him to get to the lab.

 

Alphys was waiting outside, her eyes widened in fear when she saw him in such a terrible shape. She quickly told him to sit down and ran to the elevator. He sat down on the chair by the desk and sighed with relief. His broken rib didn’t hurt so much when he wasn’t moving.

 

Suddenly Grillby’s phone rang. He took it out of his pocket.

 

“Good to hear. Yes, he’s right next to me.” he said after a few seconds and passed the phone to Sans. The skeleton took it.

 

“You WEAKLING! How dare you pass out like this! I’m gonna give you a real workout after this all ends!” he heard Undyne’s voice.

 

“I’m fine, thanks for asking.” he chuckled. “What are you doing now?”

 

“We’re calming the kids we found in the Lab. They are all stressed and traumatized and they thought we want to torture them. Papyrus is barking on them now.”

 

“It’s called talking in our language. Do you have any idea where they will live now?”

 

“The dogs are preparing everything now and making this place more comfortable. The children will stay here. It’s the best idea I had. We can’t just take them out and say ‘Hey, we have a lot of small children without homes, they have powers and may be dangerous. Wanna take one?’.”

 

“I know, Undyne, I know… Just make sure they are okay.”

 

“Got it. Prepare for our next training.”

 

“Sorry but I think I’ve worked myself  _ down to the bone _ recently… I need a  _ break _ .”

 

“You little piece of garbage!”

 

“Nice chat, Undy, talk to ya later”

 

He hanged up and chuckled. He saw Alphys leaving the elevator.

 

“Apply this on the rib and drink this” she told him and gave him a glass of orange water with a lot of foam on it which looked a little bit like beer and a bowl with some green salve.

 

Sans took off his jacket and T-shirt. He realized his T-shirt was torn too. Than he spread the salve all over his broken rib.

 

The orange water smelled like strawberries and tasted like blueberries. He had no idea how Alphys managed to do this. Right after drinking it he felt the pain slowly disappearing. He also felt… Happier? Relieved? Something like that.

 

Alphys took the empty glass and bowl from him and put them on the desk. She rubbed the spikes on her head.

 

“Thanks, Alphys… Is she down there?” he asked and looked at her.

 

She was still frightened of him after what she had seen during the fight with the Doctor but he didn’t know that and she was hiding that well.

 

“I’ve been waiting for you to start… And I thought that maybe you know where her soul is now…” she said.

 

“So you don’t know where her soul is?”

 

“N-No, I d-don’t…”

 

He stood up causing her to flinch. But he just approached her and kneel down next to her. She began to sweat. He chuckled.

 

“Reptiles aren’t good in rept- _ lies _ ” he said. She tried to hide laughter.

 

“Okay, okay... “ she answered and her eyes lowered to the ground.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“It’s just… I don’t know if I won’t screw it up…”

 

“Alphys… You won’t. Actually… There’s nothing worse than being dead.” he said and smiled to her. She clenched her teeth and nodded slowly. Grillby sat down on the chair by the desk.

 

“Her soul’s with her dust. It’s just small and hiding” she finally said and led him to the elevator. But this time she didn’t took him on the floor with operation rooms. The elevator went much deeper this time.

 

“Welcome to my True Lab” Alphys whispered when the door finally opened. It was dark but Alphys didn’t turn the lights on. She led him through dark corridors with strange screens on the walls. The air was cold.

 

“Don’t” she whispered when he wanted to light up his left eye. He followed her. If he was there alone in the darkness, he would certainly get lost. He didn’t even know where she was going. A few times something white appeared in his eyesight for a second but before he could look at it, it disappeared.

 

“Alphys…” he said but she opened a metal door near them and shut it after they both entered the room.

 

It was looking like one of the operation rooms. It had a table with a half of a glass tube covering it. There was also a strange machine with lots of screens and buttons standing by a wall behind the table. When Sans looked at the left he saw a fridge. On the right was a small coffee table with a wooden box and a jar on it. The jar had a pink cap, it was the one containing Hope’s dust.

 

Alphys took the jar and approached the machine. She pressed one button and the tube slowly lifted. Than she passed the jar to Sans.

 

“I think you should do it…” she said. He slowly took the jar from her and opened it. Alphys took something from under the coffee table. Hope’s jacket. She put it on the metal table. Sans slowly opened the jar. He could smell the scent of flowers and death. It caused another stab in his soul. If everything went right, Hope would be back with them soon.

 

He put the dust on the table next to the jacket. Alphys pressed the button again and the tube covered the table. Sans remembered how Hope had reacted for the first time.

 

“Close your eyes. It can blind you. The process of reconstructing a body from dust is dangerous and had a little chance of success. But her body was small and young so there should be no problem.” Alphys said and switched a lever.

 

All screens turned on. Every single one showed another kind of information about the content of the tube. Alphys slowly pressed some buttons. On one of the screens appeared a model of Hope which automatically adjusted it’s place to the jacket.

 

“Why is her jacket inside?” Sans asked.

 

“We need something which belonged to her to make chances of success higher.” she answered. “Close your eyes.”

 

He did what she told him. A loud buzzing sound filled the room.The air became hot like they were standing near a pool of lava.

 

“Just a few seconds more… Work… Just work…” he heard Alphys’ voice.

 

Then everything calmed. The air became cold again and buzzing was replaced with silence.

 

“Open… Your eyes…” Alphys said.

 

He opened his eyesockets. Tears of joy instantly started to form in them.

 

On the table covered by the glass tube was Hope. She was lying there, not breathing but it was her. Alphys pressed another button and a tiny reversed heart in a light shade of pink became visible inside.

 

Sans went closer to the tube and just watched the soul with a wide smile. Alphys looked at her screens to make sure everything’s okay.

 

“Body functions in normal… No injuries… Only the one we know…” she murmured. “We can let her soul inside” she finally said and pressed another button.

 

Suddenly all screens shut down. They came back after a second. Alphys acted like it was normal so Sans wasn’t worried about it. He still watched the soul which slowly hid itself under kid’s jacket.

 

Hope began to breathe.

 

“She’ll be sleeping for some time… There’s a tiny chance that she will turn to dust again but… It’s not so big” Alphys said but before she could say anything else she was cought in a tight hug.

 

“Thank you… Thank you, Alphys…” Sans whispered while hugging her tightly. She chuckled awkwardly and tried to hide how nervous she was.

 

“Want to go home or…” she asked.

 

“I’ll stay here and wait.” he answered. She nodded.

 

“If you want to go out or she wakes up, just call me. Don’t leave the room alone” the scientist said. Sans didn’t ask why, he just stood near the table and watched his little kid back among the living.

 

* * *

 

Alphys left the room and finally sighed with relief. But she was still nervous.

  
“I hope it works this time…” she murmured and went to one of the rooms to fill a bowl standing there with dog food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a question for you so if you have some spare time to write a comment, please, answer them ^^  
> How would you rate the level of feels in my fanfic? It's kinda important to me ;)  
> Thank you again for all the kudos and support! ^^ Next chapter coming tomorrow!  
> And I'll probably start writing my next work soon ;) This one will by a little bit more 'humerus' ;D


	18. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope woke up.

Sans wasn’t leaving the room. He had been there for about a week. Alphys had been trying to tell him he should go back home and she would have called him in case she wakes up. He refused.

 

This long week passed. Alphys thought nothing would happen. She said it to Sans but he wasn’t listening. He just stayed in this room in the lab and waited.

 

He stared at her, breathing and alive. He still couldn’t believe this. Alphys was able to bring fallen monsters back to life.

 

But before he could think more about it he saw movement in the tube. He quickly focused on it.

 

Hope slowly lifted her left hand and touched her forehead. Sans took his phone from the table and sent a quick message to Alphys. Than he pressed the button which lifted the glass tube.

 

Hope slowly sat up while rubbing her forehead like she had a headache. But then she felt someone hugging her tightly.

 

“...da…?” she whispered. He missed this voice, he missed it so badly… Tears of pure joy began to fall down his cheekbones.

 

“Hey, sweetie…” he said and slowly released her from the hug. He wanted to look at his kid who was just a pile of dust a week ago.

 

His soul stopped beating for a while.

 

She looked at him but she couldn’t see him. Her eyelights were so dim they were barely visible.

 

Alphys had told him it was possible since she had been blinded just before her death. But it didn’t matter.

 

He hugged her again. All that mattered was she was alive again.

 

“I missed you so badly, sweetie…” he whispered.

 

“Da… what happen?” she said. He looked at her with disbelief. She didn’t remember.

 

“You were… You were sleeping for a long time…” he said. He didn’t want to inform her she had died. “I thought you would never wake up.”

 

“Da… Why dark?” she said with fear. He sighed and hugged her again.

 

“There’s no point in lies… You’re blind… You can’t see anything” he explained.

 

Before she could say anything Alphys entered the room. She looked at the little skeleton in his arms, than at her barely seen eyelights. She forced a nervous smile.

 

“So… it worked…” she said. “But I can’t let her out now. She can turn to dust in any second so it’s safer for her to stay there until we’re sure she’s all right.” Hope shivered.

 

“Dust…?” she asked with fear.

 

“It doesn’t matter, sweetie. She meant that we can’t go home now.” he quickly calmed her.

 

Alphys slowly nodded. “I’ll get you some clothes for her and something to eat.” she said and left the room in hurry. When the door shut behind her she saw ahuge white creature looking like a dog with too many legs and a hole in place where the creature’s face should be. The gaps between its legs looked like cats. Is slowly approached her and touched the door with one of its many paws.

 

Alphys took a pair of red gloves out of her poket and put them on. Than she slowly took creature’s paw and led it away from the room.

 

“I know, Endogeny, I know. But maybe it all will have a happy end. She isn’t a monster. Now go to your favourite room.” she said. She knew the creature couldn’t understand her but it went back to the corridor it had come from. She sighed and went to one of the rooms and filled the bowl there with dog food.

 

Than she went upstairs and took a box Grillby had prepared and a packet of instant noodles. Than she took her phone out and called to Grillby.

 

“Hey, Alphys.”

 

“Hey, Grillby. I wanted to tell you that she’s awake. Could you, please, come here with something for her to eat? I don’t think instant noodles are the best meal.” she said.

 

“Of course. I’ll send someone soon.” he said and hanged up.

 

She sighed and took the box and a packet of instant noodles downstairs to the room they were in. Sans was sitting on the coffee table with Hope in his arms. He was telling her something, maybe a story or a pun. But she was smiling anyway. Little kid looked just like during the Festival of Lights.

 

But Alphys reminded herself what this kid was now. It wasn’t a monster but not a child too. Endogeny had ensured her.

 

She put the box on the ground and opened it.

 

“Grillby prepared a t-shirt and a pair of trousers for her. And also a pair of trainers which look like her old ones.” she said and took the clothes out of the box. Sans put Hope on the coffee table.

 

“Wait there” he said and approached Alphys. “Thank you so much” he said which made her blush. She murmured something about blankets and left the room. Sans took clothes and dressed the little skeleton up. She looked like before her death. Only her dim eyelights reminded him that all the Festival and the fight with the Doctor wasn’t just a bad dream.

 

“What colors?” she asked him.

 

“Well, you’re Jacket is still in Your color, your t-shirt is in Flowers’ color and the trousers you’re wearing are in Da’s color. Your shoes remind me about Ketchup.” he said. He remembered all the stars they had named. She remembered them too. Her burst of laughter was something he missed so badly.

 

She was laughing so hard her face turned pink. Then Alphys came back with some blankets for them and pillows. They were going to stay there for a little longer.

 

Sans helped her lie down on a blanket and covered her with another one. She smiled brightly and closed her eyes.

  
He lied down on the ground next to her. There was only one blanket left but he didn’t mind it and covered himself with it. He was used to sleeping in more uncomfortable places than this one. He stared at his kid’s face before his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll never stop thanking you for all the comments and kudos <3


	19. Playing with Fire and Crayons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope tried to get used to blindness.

The next day Alphys was even more nervous than before. Lesser dog came to the lab to give her a packet from Grillby. There was a burger and a lot of fries inside. Alphys also found a small plastic bag with sugar.

 

She went downstairs to the skeletons. They had already been awake and Sans came up with a strange idea. He summoned a blue fireball and used magic to place it on the other end of the room but away from the machine. It was a special fireball. His usual fire was silent but this one was making loud noises like a campfire.

 

“Come on, Hope, catch a fire-fly” he chuckled. Maybe she was blind but she could hear everything. She slowly got closer to the fire, step by step.

 

“There’s a pillow in front of you” he warned her. She stopped and pulled it away from her way. Than she caught the fireball. It shattered into hundreds of tiny blazes but they didn’t hurt her. It wasn’t burning hot, just pleasantly warm.

 

“Oh, it escaped” he chuckled. “But there’s another one” he summoned another fireball. Hope giggled and made a few careful steps.

 

Alphys watched the display. She smiled but couldn’t get her nervousness out of her face.

 

“I have something to eat for you.” she said and gave the packet to Sans. He dismissed the fireball and summoned one near him. Hope approached him and caught it.

 

“Okay, sweetie, are you hungry?” he asked and picked her up. She giggled as he put her on his knees and took the fries out of the packet. Alphys gave them plates so he put the food on one of them and sprinkled it with sugar. Hope took it and slowly began to eat. She couldn’t see the fries so it was harder for her.

 

“Da…?” she asked him.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“Why no taste?”

 

He looked at her with disbelief in his eyes. She had lost something more than just her eyes. After the experiments in the Lab she had lost her sense of taste. She could have felt the sweetness before but now she felt nothing.

 

“It must be temporary” he calmed her. She nodded and continued to eat. But Alphys shook her head. Sans sighed and ate his food.

 

The scientist forced a smile on her face and took something from her pocket.

 

“I know she can’t see anything but maybe she’ll like this.” she said and took a notebook and a packet of crayons out of her pocket. They were a little old but still colorful. She passed them to Sans.

 

He waited until she finished her meal. Than they both sat down on the floor.

 

“Ya know what’s there?” he asked her with a grin. Than he shook the notebook and opened it. She was alarmed by the sound.

 

“Paper?” she asked. He put the opened notebook in front of her. Than he took her hand and put it on the paper.

 

“Yes. Wanna try to draw something?” he asked her.

 

“Not funny, Da… Can’t see it” she said.

 

“I’m serious. Just look… I mean… You know…” he chuckled and took one of the crayons. He drew a few lines on the paper. Than he put her fingers on them. She could feel where he drew something. He turned the page so she had an empty one.

 

“Just tell me which color you want.” he said.

 

“Black one” she said immediately. She knew what to draw. He gave her the crayon and the fun began. Even Alphys sat down near them.

 

Firstly she drew a circle. It wasn’t the best circle in the world but it was pretty good since it was made by someone who’s blind.

 

“Circle?” she asked.

 

“Without any doubt.” he answered. Than she drew something… like spikes around the circle. Only the bottom of the circle was clear. It was a slow process. She checked every line using her left thumb to make sure they are in the right place. Than she drew two smaller circles inside and colored them black leaving only small white dots. She pot her hand on the paper to feel if she drew it right.

 

“Da color?” she asked. He gave her the crayon. She checked the drawing again and continued to draw. She made a few lines which looked at first like just random lines but then Sans realised something. A large smile grew up on his face.

 

She was drawing him. It was a poor drawing but it was him. She asked for a black crayon again and added something like hands. Then she used the blue crayon again to draw a few sticks above him which were probably bones and colored his left eye blue.

 

“Who?” she asked with a smile. She checked the drawing again. It was really strange she was looking somewhere else and touching the lines on the page.

 

“It’s your Da” he said and hugged her. She giggled and hugged him too. Alphys looked at the drawing and smiled too. This little piece of paper was filled with love and happiness.

 

“It’s a… p-pretty good drawing” she said shyly. At this moment Hope looked like the happiest child in the Underground. Nope, not in the Underground. On the whole Earth. She was a little spark of joy in the darkness of the Underground.

 

“Wanna draw another one?” he asked. She nodded and he turned the page.

 

She took a black crayon and drew something like a bean with two dots inside. Than she added a circle under it.

 

“Ketchup” she said. Sans chuckled and gave her the red crayon. She colored the part between the circle and the bean and added some lines .

 

Sans began to laugh. She drew Papyrus. It was a simple picture but he could recognize his brother’s scarf.

 

“Beautiful drawing” he said. “You have a gift” he added. She grinned and turned the page. She took the black crayon and began to draw again.

 

She managed to draw Monster Kid with a big smile and Grillby. Her drawings looked almost like normal child’s ones but took much more time. Alphys told them when it got late so Hope finished her last drawing and closed the notebook. Sans put it on the coffee table and helped her to lie down on a blanket and covered her with another one.

 

“I’ll examine her tomorrow. You’ll probably be able to take her home soon. Papyrus misses you two” Alphys said. He nodded and lied down on the ground next to Hope. He covered himself with the last blanket.

 

When Alphys left the room he used his magic. Blue magic covered the notebook as it slowly began to levitate. It flew to Sans and he caught it and opened it.

 

He put his hand on the last drawing she made. Two reversed hearts, one big and blue while the other one small and pink. He smiled and looked at the kid. She was sleeping peacefully.

 

* * *

 

When Alphys left the room, she saw Endogeny again. He wanted to open the door. There were also three white monsters which looked like balls with lots of faces on them.

 

“Endogeny, Memoryheads, I have some food for you” she said and put on her red gloves. She carefully picked up one Memoryhead and went to the other room. The others followed her. She filled the bowl with dog food.

 

“Hope seems to be okay… But I’m nervous because of your behavior. You shouldn’t act like that” she said. She knew they couldn’t understand her, they never answered but she liked to talk with them.

  
Even if they were officially dead.


	20. Too Much but Not Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's more a monster than a human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...

Hope was almost sleeping during the examination next day. She was yawning a lot and rubbing her forehead while sitting on the coffee table. Alphys was wearing her red gloves but no one asked her about them.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sans asked in concern. She nodded in response. But he could see that she didn’t feel good at all. She wasn’t smiling brightly and looked like she had a headache. Alphys examined her hands and saw that the burns disappeared.

 

Hope looked like a healthy little skeleton.

 

“You’re free now. I’ll go to Snowdin with you, just in case. And because I have someone to visit” she said. Sans took kid’s hand to help her stand up. Her fingers were cold.

 

They all left the room. Corridor was empty. They went upstairs and then headed to the riverman.

 

“Tra la la~! Be careful with that~!” they said and looked at Hope. Sans growled something at them and sat down in the boat and put Hope on his knees. Alphys sat down next to him. Hope was like a ragdoll, she wasn’t moving on her own and was staring at the bottom of the boat.

 

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Sans asked softly and hugged her.

 

She was cold.

 

“Don’t know…” she whispered. Sans looked at Alphys but she shrugged in response.

 

“Remember the stars we named?” he said to the child sitting on his knees. She slowly lifted her head and looked at the ceiling. Or rather it looked like she could see it. A weak smile grew up on her face. Her hand was shaking when she lifted it to point at the stars.

 

“Ketchup and Bone” she giggled weakly. Sans frowned. Her laughter died out. She was just sitting there.

 

“...D-Da…?” he heard her voice. It was broken by cries. She began to sob. “Will... ever... see s-stars again…?” she asked and buried her head in his jacket.

 

He petted her head gently. But he didn’t know how to answer.

 

Should he lie to her? Or tell her the truth? He didn’t want to see her crying. Actually she already was. He heard her sobbing. He couldn’t leave her without an answer.

 

“Y-You’ll see the stars one day! Of c-course!”

 

That was Alphys. She was the one who lied to Hope, not him. But he felt guilty anyway.

 

Hope stopped crying but didn’t move. She giggled but without happiness and murmured something Sans couldn’t hear.

 

“Can you repeat that? I didn’t catch it” he said. But she remained silent. He hugged her.

 

Then they arrived at Snowdin. Everyone were working or at school so the town was empty. Sans helped Hope to get out of the boat and summoned a fireball in front of her, not far from her face. It was making sounds like a campfire so she knew when they were turning. It was like an improved walking cane or something like that.

 

They headed home. Alphys was following them.

 

When they entered the house Sans felt like it had been ages since he had last been there. Papyrus was probably on the puzzle field.

 

Hope almost tripped over the carpet.

 

“Hey, kiddo, wanna sit down?” he asked her and slowly led her to the sofa and helped her to sit on it. The fireball disappeared.

 

“I’ll go get you something to eat” Sans said. He was happy that she’s with them again. But he was still worried about her. He went to the kitchen to make her some rice with milk and sugar but the packet of rice fell on the ground when he heard a sound of something falling on the floor. It couldn’t be a book… It sounded like…

 

He rushed into the living room and saw Hope getting up from the floor. But he flinched when he noticed something.

 

She was melting. She was constantly melting, even her cloths were. Alphys stood near.

 

“...daaaaaa…” he heard a quiet whine.

 

“I’m here, Hope, I’m here…” he said and wanted to quickly run to her. “Don’t worry, I’ll-”

 

“ **STOP** !” that was Alphys. She quickly got between the kid and the father.

 

“Alphys, what are you doing, I need to help her” he said and a blue blaze woke up in his eye. She shivered but didn’t move.

 

“...you…” she sighed. “You can’t… help her…” she said and looked at him.

 

“But why?! Can’t you see that she’s suffering?!” he yelled at her. She took her red gloves out of the pocket in her lab coat and put them on.

 

“You can’t. Endogeny was right” she whispered. More and more questions began to create in his mind.

 

“You’ll tell me later but now I need to-”

 

“She’s  **dead** ”

 

Suddenly he couldn’t catch a breath. He was suffocating and couldn’t say anything. His eyes widened in fear and disbelief. Alphys sighed again.

 

“Fallen monsters brought back to life using the power of Determination. I thought that her soul’s different because she’s not a monster… But she’s more a monster than a human.” she looked at him. Sans was still staring at her, tears forming in his eyes. “Her body can’t stand this power but her soul needs it so it won’t shatter. She’s melting because of this conflict. And she can’t understand us anymore. Because she’s dead inside.”

 

She slowly took a step back and turned to Hope. The little skeleton managed to stand up. She looked terrible. Her whole appearance was melting, even her clothes. She had a wide smile on her face but it wasn’t happy. Her eyes weren’t neither.

 

Her smile and eyes were blank, they had no emotions. She made a few steps. She was melting but she wasn’t leaving a trail behind her.

 

Sans fell on his knees and just stared at his kid. He wanted to yell at Alphys, cry, turn to dust and hug his child in the same time. But he couldn’t do any of these. Alphys was talking to Hope, something about dog food and fun but kid didn’t react. Sans felt empty. He had no thoughts or emotions. All consumed by the feeling of losing his child again.

 

Alphys asked for a key to his workshop. But her voice was muffled like there was a wall between them. Then there was another sound.

  
Was it just Sans’ imagination or did he hear his soul break in half?


	21. Keeping Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk came, Frisk saved but not everyone's happy...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this whole 'break/breaking' situation :P It was a metaphor, Sans is still alive. This fic was meant to be canon (welp, only with the pacifist route).  
> You know what's the worst part of being a writer? You know the ending from the very beginning...

That was the first night monsters from the underground heard a howling at night. Howling full of sadness, sorrow and pain. But it wasn’t the last time. Sometimes there were two monsters howling but usually there was only one.

 

It had been a routine until a human fell to the Underground. They came out of the ruins. The human had a stick as a weapon and a worn bandage covering their left hand. They walked down a road in the forest where tall and dark trees grew.

 

A tough looking branch on the ground behind them suddenly broke like it was a stick. The human shivered as they walked.

 

Than they heard someone approaching them from behind. The human flinched but didn’t turn around.

 

“H u m a n.” they heard a voice behind them. “D o n ‘ t   y o u   k n o w   h o w   t o   g r e e t   a   n e w   p a l?” some chills went down their spine. The creepy voice behind them told them to turn around and shake their hand.

 

The human turned around and looked at the skeleton in a worn blue jacket standing there with a wide grin.

 

* * *

 

It all happened so fast. One day they were in the Underground and the sun was only a dream. Their only source of light were crystals in the ceiling and there were only a few kinds of flowers that could grow there.

 

Then the other day a human fell to the Underground, befriended everyone who wanted to catch them and managed to somehow destroy the barrier. And that human’s name was Frisk.

 

They were all in the same place. Toriel, Asgore, Papyrus, Sans, Alphys, Undyne, Mettaton and the human, they all were staring at the sunrise, at a city not so far away and at endless forests and fields. Soon it would become their home, their Newer Home. But Frisk noticed one monster who wasn’t as happy as the others.

 

Sans was holding a page torn out of a notebook. But when he noticed their look, he quickly hid it in his pocket.

 

* * *

 

It had already been a month since the barrier was broken and the monsters moved to the surface. They had built a village not so far from the city and called it Newer Home. The entrance to the Underground wasn’t so far too but no monster wanted to go back there.

 

There was also a large field of flowers near the village. There were so many kinds of them no one could count them. And it was a favourite napping spot of a certain skeleton.

 

When Sans wasn’t eating, annoying Papyrus, making jokes or walking around the village without any purpose he was coming there.

 

That day Frisk was there too. For them Sans was acting strangely. He came there after dinner and lied down among the flowers. Than he took a piece of paper from his pocket and looked at it. He sighed and looked at the sky.

 

Frisk was close but Sans hadn’t noticed them yet. They slowly approached him and covered his eyesochets. Sans flinched and dropped the paper.

 

“H-Hey!” he chuckled and tried to take their hands off his face and grab the paper. But Frisk was faster and caught the page torn out of a notebook. Sans sat up and rubbed his back. He chuckled awkwardly.

 

There were two hearts drawn on the paper. The first one big and blue while the second one small and pink. This wasn’t a good drawing. It looked like a kid who had made this wasn’t looking at the paper while drawing. Frisk frowned and asked him who had made this picture. He chuckled again and took the paper from them.

 

“It doesn’t matter” he said quickly and put the picture into his pocket. He stood up and headed to the village. “Come on, maybe Tori has left some cake for us” he said.

 

Frisk followed him but had a feeling that something’s really wrong with their friend.

 

* * *

 

Sans went to his room right after the sunset. He said he was tired of napping.

 

Toriel, Asgore, Papyrus, Sans and Frisk lived in the same house on the edge of the village. The house was large enough and the skelebros were like brothers to Frisk.

 

Frisk finished their piece of butterscotch cinnamon pie and said “goodnight” to everyone. They went to their room and sat down on the floor near the door. They waited.

 

The whole house went silent. Everyone went to their rooms to sleep. Well, not everyone.

 

Frisk had almost fallen asleep but then they heard the sound of door opening. They waited a little more, then slowly opened the door. They tried not to make any noise and peeked from their room.

 

Sans was going downstairs. His footsteps were muffled by his slippers. When he opened the front door Frisk left her room and started to follow him.

 

The skeleton headed to the field of flowers and stopped for a while to pick a few daisies and buttercups growing near the edge of the field. Than he started to head to Mt Ebott. Frisk didn’t know why but followed him anyway.

 

Sans climbed on the top of the mountain and looked at the hole there. The same hole Frisk used to get to the Underground. It was so deep he couldn’t see the bottom. He took a deep breath and jumped.

 

Frisk didn’t know what to do. Should they wait a while or jump right after him to see if their friend is all right? They decided to wait a minute then jumped too.

 

Falling down mount Ebott. It felt like forever but the fall was always safe. There were some golden flowers growing down there.

 

Frisk opened their eyes when they felt soft petals under them. They noticed Sans going to the next room of the Ruins. They quickly got up and followed him.

 

Sans got through the ruins and through old Papyrus’ puzzle fields. He finally stopped on the edge of Snowdin. The town was empty and silent, there was no one alive. Everything was abandoned and left to decay.

 

Frisk watched him as he approached his old house. Than he went behind it and opened the secret door which led to his workshop. Then he went down the stairs to the basement. He couldn’t turn the lights on because of the lack of energy so he lit up his left eye.

 

Frisk followed him. They went downstairs and peeked from behind the wall.

 

The room wasn’t so big. Actually it had Sans’ room size but wasn't so messy. There was a coffee table by a wall with lots for blueprints scattered on it and on the ground around it. But Frisk focused on something else.

 

They had been in Sans workshop once but they had never seen the glass tube standing in the corner of the room. It had been covered so they couldn’t have seen it then. But now the cloth was lying on the ground.

 

Sans was sitting in front of the tube so Frisk couldn’t see his face. But could see what was inside the tube.

 

It looked a little bit like a little skeleton. The monster had a pink jacket on them and was constantly melting. Their blue trousers had already melted with their trainers. But the thing which scared Frisk the most was skeleton’s expression. Her eyes and smile were blank like the monster was dead inside. They were sitting on the bottom of the tube.

 

Sans started to look for something in his pockets. He took out the flowers he had picked on the surface.

 

“Hey, Hope… Knock knock” he said and pressed a button near the bottom of the tube. A little window in the glass opened and Sans threw the flowers inside. They fell on skeleton’s head.

 

Melting child made a motion like she was giggling. But there was no sound. She grabbed one of the buttercups and put it in her eyesocket. Frisk realised her eyelights were so dim they could barely see them. Hope picked up the flowers and ate them. Her left hand had only a thumb.

 

“I’ve seen a beautiful sunset today…” Sans said and watched the monster in the tube eating the flowers. “It was orange and pink… Remember what those colors mean?”

 

Hope didn’t make any sound. That was the weirdest. No matter what she was doing, eating, laughing, trying to hit the glass - there was no sound. She was silent.

 

“Orange and pink… Laughter and hope” he chuckled. “And I’ve visited your brothers and sisters today. Most of them have already found new families.” he chuckled again but his forced happiness died out.

 

“Whenever I see one of them finding a new home… I want to hug you. Because it was you who gave them freedom. If you didn’t escape, we wouldn’t even know about the Lab…” he sighed and took the last flower from his pocket. He threw it inside and watched his kid trying to paint on the glass using the buttercup. She painted random lines with no sense. He sighed again.

 

“Come here, Frisk, I won't bite” he said.

 

The surprised human slowly showed themselves and approached Sans. Then they sat down next to him. Frisk looked at him. There were no tears on his cheekbones, only sad smile on his face.

 

“Frisk, that’s Hope. Hope, that’s Frisk” he said. They nodded but the skeleton in the tube didn’t react. They tried to wave to her. No response.

 

“She can’t see you.” he said. He stood up and took something from under the blueprints on the coffee table. Soon he came back with a little packet of dog food.

 

“Alphys said she probably likes it” he explained.

 

Frisk felt weird. They saw the amalgamates in the True lab. But this one was made of just one monster. Not many ones like Endogeny or Lemon Bread. They knew Amalgamates are monsters without an ability to talk normally or understand anything… unless someone reminds them who they are. Frisk wanted to help Hope so badly. It hurt them to see Sans suffering.

 

“Frisk?”

 

They shook their head when their thoughts were interrupted and looked at Sans. They took the packet from him and threw some dog food inside. Hope started to grab and throw it into the air while laughing.

 

But she still didn’t make any sound.

 

“Frisk… I need to ask you something…” Sans sighed. “Remember when I said you about the promise made to the old lady?” he asked.

 

Frisk remembered. The memory of this was still giving them shivers. Sans had once promised to Toriel he would protect the human who went out of the Ruins. Even if he wanted to kill them.

 

“Well… I hate making promises… but when I make one, I keep it…” he pressed the button and the window closed.

 

Frisk asked him about this promise.

 

“I promised Hope I would take her to the surface and show her flowers…” he said. Tears began to form in his eyesockets. He wiped them quickly. “Will you help me with leading her there?”

 

Frisk looked at the kid in the tube. She summoned a tiny pink fireball and threw it on the ground. It disappeared immediately but the amalgamate created another one. This one blew up like a firework but it didn’t hurt her.

 

Amalgamates doesn’t feel fear.

  
The sight of Frisk’s friend suffering because of Hope’s faith filled them with DETERMINATION.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't write a single page yesterday xD whole chapter was written today and I feel like someone threw a bag full of bricks on my head :P  
> Why? Najti meets tumblr! xD  
> And the undertale theme doesn't want to work...  
> Anyway, I like this whole ask-a-character idea so I started a blog for this fic and this whole AU (I named it Soul Blasters)  
> Feel free to come and ask any character you want ^^  
> http://soul-blasters.tumblr.com/  
> (Actually, I had to write those notes twice because I refreshed the page by mistake xD)
> 
> And the last thing... I LOVE MAKING PEOPLE SUFFER BECAUSE OF THE FEELS ^^  
> But you probably know that ;D


	22. Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every evening the Sun dies and the Moon is born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to say something really important. If you like this story and/or this AU, please, follow my tumblr. This fic WILL END SOON but as you can see, it's in a series I named "Life's full of colors". I'll probably write more about Hope and other Blaster Beasts so I recommend you to subscribe the series or me. User subscriptions are appreciated :)  
> And I'm waiting for some activity on my tumblr ^^  
> http://soul-blasters.tumblr.com/

They got out of Underground and went back home.They wanted to rest before their attempt to lead Hope out of the Underground.

 

Sans couldn’t just teleport her out of there. He needed to hold a hand of the one he was teleporting with. And if he touched Hope, he would merge with her. Determination was lethal to him but humans could touch amalgamates without any dangers. Amalgamates who remember who they are can be touched by monsters.

 

They left the house before dinner. Frisk had everything they needed in the dimensional box in her phone. They both climbed mount Ebott.

 

Sans could teleport them out of the Underground but he couldn’t teleport them inside.

They landed safely in the bed of golden flowers and went through the Ruins. Sans looked like he was getting more and more nervous with each step. But Frisk was prepared. They got a bottle of ketchup out of their dimensional box and gave it to Sans.

 

He drank it and calmed down a little.

 

“Thanks” he said.

 

Then they entered Snowdin.

 

Sans immediately became nervous again but tried not to show it. He went with Frisk to his workshop.

 

Hope was sitting there. She wasn’t moving, just sitting and waiting. Sans began to press buttons near the bottom of the tube. The amalgamate stood up and looked like she wanted to get out. She hit the glass with her small fist.

 

“Hey, sweetie, wanna go for a walk?” Sans asked and chuckled. Frisk took a rope out of the dimensional box.

 

The tube opened and the kid made a few unsure steps. Frisk quickly tied the rope around her waist but not too tight. They took Hope’s left hand and gave the end of the rope to Sans.

 

Their first problem was getting her out of the workshop. She couldn’t see the stairs so Frisk had to pick her up. Little skeleton wasn’t heavy but the feeling of holding something as fragile as her was weird. And she was constantly melting, this wasn’t helpful at all.

 

As soon as they went outside, Frisk put her back on the ground. Kid picked up some snow and put it on her head. She let out a soundless laughter again. Frisk took her hand again while Sans started to head to the place where riverman’s boat was. They weren’t there but the boat was still waiting for new monsters who wanted to travel to Hot Land.

 

As soon as they got aboard, the boat headed to the Hot Land. It didn’t need anyone, it acted like a living being. It quickly entered the Waterfall.

 

Frisk sat down in the boat with Hope. The amalgamate tried to touch the water but she made an expression like it was painful to her when she had finally managed to do it. She looked like she was crying while still smiling but there were no tears or sounds.

 

Sans looked away from her and clenched his teeth. There was nothing he could do.

 

Frisk put her hand on Hope’s head and petted her gently. The kid calmed down but Sans still looked like he was hurt by the sight of his child crying.

 

He sat down in a safe distance from Hope and looked at the ceiling. He chuckled but there was no happiness in his voice. Than he pointed at the crystals.

 

“Hope named some of them… See the red one? It’s Ketchup. That group of amethysts is called Flowers while that white crystal is Bone.” he explained.

 

Suddenly Hope lifted her left hand and stretched it to the stars. She looked like she tried to grab them. Than she began to cry again. Still without tears and sounds.

 

Sans sighed. “Alphys said that Amalgamates can’t understand us. But I have a feeling that somewhere deep inside this little monster is my Hope. And she can hear me but can't show it.” he said. He made a motion like he wanted to take child’s left hand but stopped. He knew he couldn’t touch her.

 

Frisk petted Hope again and whispered something to her. The skeleton was still crying but Frisk smiled weakly.

 

“What have you told her?” Sans asked. But Frisk only giggled and stayed silent.

 

They reached the Hot Land.

 

Frisk and Sans got out of the boat but Hope didn’t want to. She refused to go when Frisk took her hand. Frisk had to pick her up to get her out of the boat.

 

She still remembered this place. That’s the place where she had been created. They had to go through the CORE to get out of the Underground.

 

Frisk was carrying her the whole way to the core and in the elevator. The amalgamate struggled but they had no difficulties in holding her. She was too weak.

 

Sans gave energy to the elevator so they could use it to get to the CORE. He watched Hope the whole way.

 

After an hour they finally reached the end of the core. Hope was shivering and tried to escape Frisk. She managed to do this a few times but Sans was still holding the rope.

 

She calmed down when they reached the castle and sighed when he saw the Judgement Hall. It was still beautiful and bright. Frisk put Hope on the floor and took her hand. Their footsteps were echoing through the hall.

 

Then there was a grey corridor leading to Asgore’s old throne room. Golden flowers were still covering the floor. Hope stopped and picked up one of them. She ate it and picked another one. She put it in her left eyesocket. Sans clenched his teeth and looked away. They were really close.

 

They reached the place where the barrier had once stood. They went out on the surface and looked around. The sunset was close. They could see the village and the field of flowers from there.

 

“We’re close” Sans said and headed to the field. Frisk and Hope followed him.

 

Everything was painted golden, orange and yellow because of the setting Sun. He sat down in his favorite spot and looked at the sun. Frisk sat down next to him but kept Hope away from him. The amalgamate sat down too and started to pick up the flowers and put them in her eyesockets, throw away or eat them. Sans looked at her and clenched his teeth.

 

He knew the promise had already been broken.

 

She couldn’t see the flowers.

  
He failed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And one question - do you want a bonus chapter to Memories made of Dust? Because before I start the second part I may write something like that. Why am I starting a new fic instead of updating this one? Mostly because of the title ;)  
> I'm spamming about my tumblr, I know :P I just want to see some activity there :)  
> http://soul-blasters.tumblr.com/  
> Don't forget to subscribe me/the series or follow my tumblr if you want to know when I'm working on the fic or when the next part will show up ;)  
> It certainly will, I kinda like this story ^^  
> Nope, this is not the last chapter but probably the next one will... Haven't started writing yet :P


	23. Memories Aren't Made of Dust

Leading her to the surface was just a waste of time. Sans knew it. He just stared at the setting Sun. Everything was orange and gold, this was beautiful but they didn’t enjoyed it. They couldn’t.

 

Frisk put their hand on his shoulder. He looked at them without saying anything. His eyelights were full of sadness. They took a deep breath and a weak smile grew up on their face.

 

Frisk asked him why Hope was an amalgamate.

 

He sighed. “It was mostly my fault. Listen… there was an accident a long time ago… Hope was killed… but Alphys said that her soul was still whole. I wanted her back so badly that I didn’t think about the consequences. Alphys resurrected her somehow, she was normal at first but then…” he looked at the monster eating flowers. Frisk knew about the amalgamates so they nodded.

 

They asked him about her family.

 

He chuckled. “Monsters like us don’t have a family by blood. Actually, we don’t even have blood.” he chuckled again but his laughter died out and he became serious. “She was created in the Lab. Papyrus and I are her only family.” he said. Frisk nodded again.

 

They asked him about her personality before her death.

 

“She… Well, she was my cute little marshmallow” he smiled. “Always laughing and curious about everything. She loved colors and sweet things. Her laughter was the most beautiful sound in the world…” he clenched his teeth and looked at Hope.

 

She picked up a few daisies and dandelions and put them on her head. They fell on the ground.

 

“I still can’t believe I won’t hear it again…” tears began to form in his eyes and fall down his cheekbones. Frisk looked at the skeleton. She stopped picking flowers and just sat there.

 

Frisk asked him who was he to her.

 

He smiled and looked at the sun. It was almost gone.

 

“I was her dad.” he said. “I was so happy when I heard her calling me her 'father' for the first time…” but his happiness died out again. He would never hear her voice again.

 

She was dead inside.

 

Frisk didn’t stop asking him. Their next question was what she had liked the most.

 

“Hope liked sugar. She couldn’t feel ano other taste. ’No taste. Only sweet’ like she once said.” he chuckled. Frisk looked at Hope. She was still sitting on the ground among the flowers. Frisk took her left hand.

 

They asked him what would he have told her if she could have understood him.

 

“I’d tell her that I’m sorry. I’m sorry because I wasn’t with her when she needed me the most. I failed to protect her, I failed to show her the surface…” he sighed and picked up a buttercup. He started to tear its petals off. He was doing this just to have something to do.

 

“And I’d tell her I know I was a horrible father but I love her.” he added and stood up. It would get dark in a few minutes. He didn’t know what to do with Hope. They should hide her somewhere.

 

Frisk stood up while still holding Hope’s hand so she stood up too.

 

Frisk had one last question.

 

They asked him what was the memory he liked to recall the most. The one which could fill his soul with happiness so he didn’t feel guilty. A wide grin grew up on his face.

 

“Frisk, do you know what are lion’s favorite flowers?” he asked. The human looked surprised and shook their head.

 

“Dande-lions” he said and looked at Hope, at her blank expression. He couldn’t resist any longer.

 

In the next second he was next to her and wrapped his arms around his child. .

 

He felt like someone spilled acid on his bones, the pain was unbelievable. He was probably merging with her at this moment but it didn’t matter. He was hugging her tightly while clenching his teeth. This was much worse than anything. Like his body was thrown into a barrel full of acid then into a soul fire. His whole body was telling him to scream, shriek and let her go.

 

He didn’t want to let her go.

 

An then suddenly the pain disappeared.

 

He was still hugging little melting child. He wasn’t merged with her.

 

Then he heard a voice he thought he would never hear again.

  
“...da…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank you all who read this, left kudos and comments :) I'm pretty sure this work would have died a long time ago.  
> If you like this, subscribe me there (not this fic but me) and/or follow my tumblr :) http://soul-blasters.tumblr.com/  
> First chapter of the next part coming soon!  
> I'm still thinking about the title... Any ideas? ;)  
> Left your thoughts and ideas in comments :)  
> Aaaaaaand I'm reminding you that you can ask characters on my tumblr! ^^ You can ask whoever you want! Hope's also waiting for questions! ^^  
> SECOND PART HERE: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7057663


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